New York State of Mind
by V.R.M
Summary: On a rainy day in New York City, an unsuspecting muggle named Melony runs into the love of her life. Little does she know that he is a wizard, and not just any wizard, the son of one of the most famous wizards of all time, Harry Potter. Family secrets will come out and limits will be tested during what was supposed to be the happiest days of Melony's life.
1. Chapter 1

Prologue: June, 2011

The cold rain was starting to come down harder, sending up steam from the warm pavement. Melony hustled over to the nearest bus stop, deciding to forgo the elusive hunt for her mother's birthday present. She had known that it would be a pointless mission anyway.

She reached the covered bench just as the rain started to pound and took shelter under the protective, clear plastic. There was only one other person there, a young man about Melony's age, with messy jet black hair who was intensely reading an instructional manual for a cell phone that lay in pieces beside him. Melony eyed the mess that was covering the entire bench, wanting to sit down but not wanting to interrupt. She wondered for a brief second if he didn't know how to read by the way his whole face was scrunched up in concentration.

"Excuse me," she said softly, not wanting to startle him, but the rain pounding on the plastic was too loud for him to hear her. "Excuse me!" she said again much louder, causing the young man to jump slightly and look up, his bright green eyes wide in surprise at Melony's presence.

"Do you mind if I sit ?" Melony asked over the rain.

"No, no, I'm sorry, of course," the man responded in a charming English accent as he swept the mess of papers and cell phone parts closer to himself so Melony would have room to sit down.

"Thanks," she said, looking at all of the pieces in disarray. "Do you need help?"

"That would be lovely, thanks," said the young man, his face relaxing in extreme gratitude.

He handed Melony the instructional booklet which she took and glanced over not to seem rude, but then tossed aside to assemble the phone on her own which only took her about ten seconds.

"The guy at the store really should have done this for you," she said handing the phone back to him.

"He did, I just took it apart to find the buttons."

"What buttons?"

"The buttons to dial the numbers."

Melony looked at him extremely confused which caused the young man to shrink slightly.

"I'm sorry," he said. "Was that odd? I've never had one of these."

"A smartphone."

"No, a mobile phone."

"Oh," said Melony, trying not to sound shocked. "Do you mind if I ask how old you are?"

"I'm twenty. How old are you?"

"The same."

"Do you have a mobile phone?"

"Yeah, I've had one since I was fourteen. It's really impressive that this is your first one."

"Could you possibly show me how to use it?"

"Sure. It's really just your basic cell phone, the power button is on the top here, and on the side is the volume…"

"So I press the power button to make a call," he said holding the power button down for far too long, causing the phone to turn on and off several times in a row.

"Um, no," said Melony grabbing the phone and turning it on for him. "You press the power button to turn it on and get to all of your apps."

The young man stared intensely at the phone as it turned on. Melony watched him revel at the welcoming graphics and the concept of a password. She was now fairly certain this person had never even used a cell phone. The only people she could think of who wouldn't have had access to a cell phone were the Amish, but he did not look Amish. His black hair was styled in a perfectly messy-yet-distinguished way and his clothes, although slightly mismatched, were certainly not old. Plus, his hands were smooth and his strong, slight frame showed no signs of hard labor.

Also, Melony had to remind herself, he was English. Perhaps he was from some small village or raised in a missionary group that didn't-or couldn't-use technology.

"This might be a weird question," Melony finally said, "but have you ever used a cell phone before?"

"Not really, no," he said sheepishly.

"Okay," Melony said nodding, "we have a lot to cover."

Three weeks later, Melony was at the same bus stop, this time alone. She had a few minutes to kill, so she dug her phone out of her purse and pressed five on the speed dial.

"Hello?" said a voice on the other end.

"Hey, mom."

"Hi, sweety, how are you?"

"I'm good. Did you get my gift?"

"Yes I did and it is lovely. What is it?"

"It's a lamp, mom."

"Oh, well I don't really need a lamp, and this one doesn't go with the house...too modern."

"You can return it."

"Well, only if that's okay with you. Do you have the receipt?"

"It's taped to the side."

"Where? I don't see it."

"Spin the box around."

"Oh, there it is. It was taped to the white part so I couldn't see it."

"Well, I'm sorry you don't like it."

"No worries, dear. I'll just exchange it for something that fits."

There is a pause in the conversation filled by the sound of heavy breathing and shuffling papers and finally and heavy sigh.

"So, dear, how is everything over in New York?"

"It's good," said Melony relaxing slightly. "I just finished up a big progect for one of my classes so that's nice."

"I really wish you had come home for the summer instead of taking on more classes."

"I know, but this way I can graduate in four years instead of five."

"Yes, but still…"

There is a moment of silence that Melony lets permeate before switching gears.

"I've met someone," she finally says, breaking the silence.

"Oh, have you?" her mother responded with only mild interest.

"Yeah...he's kind of odd though. He's always asking me how things work, like the blender or the toaster."

"Oh, well honey, that's just a typical guy in the kitchen."

"I guess, but it's other stuff too. The other day he asked me to explain in detail the rules of every sport I could think of, and then made me show him how to work a vending machine."

"Where did you meet this guy?"

"At the bus stop. I helped him put his phone together, and then he asked me to put my number in it so he could see how to put numbers in. I thought it was a line but now I'm thinking it wasn't. He only calls me to ask how things work."

"Do you like this boy?"

Melony took a moment to think it over before speaking.

"Yes," she said, "I do. He's really sweet and funny and I can tell he's really smart even though he knows very little about almost everything. There's something very deep about him."

"Well, just keep plugging along. I'm sure eventually he'll come around."

"I hope so."

"What's this boy's name?"

"It's actually an unusual name. He goes by Al, and for a couple weeks that's all he would tell me, but just yesterday he told me that Al was short for Albus. His full name is Albus Severus Potter.

Chapter 1: April, 2014

Melony decided to go for a walk. For the first time in weeks the sun had decided to shine and Melony secretly liked the way it made the ring on her left hand sparkle. It would also give her a chance to call her friend Wendy back.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Wendy! I'm sorry its taken me so long to call you."

"That's okay, I'm sure you've been busy."

"Yeah, a little," Melony said chuckling. "Did I tell you I'm switching schools?"

"No! Why are you leaving? I thought you loved your school."

"I do, but I needed to find a job that is closer to where Al and I will be living after the wedding. I really like the new school. They have a great Special Ed program."

"Well, that's good. How is Al?"

"He's great. He is so amazing. He actually made detective."

"That's awesome!"

"It was actually at his promotion dinner that he proposed."

"How sweet!" Wendy squealed. "How did it happen?"

Melony went on to describe how Al's precinct had thrown him a going away party and how in the middle of the party all of the lights went out and a lone spotlight shone on a bus bench that looked just like the one she and Al had met on covered with rose petals.

"It was so amazing," said Melony. "I don't know how he did it. One minute we at a casual party at a police station and the next it was as if we were in our own little world."

"How did he get the bench there?"

"I have no idea, he won't tell me."

"You are one lucky girl Melony. Al is an incredible guy."

"I know, I can't believe how lucky I am."

"How is the wedding planning going?"

"Pretty good. We pretty much have our guest list down, but Al's side is pretty sparse. He keeps refusing to invite his family."

"You still haven't met them?"

"Haven't even spoken to them. Don't know where they live, who they are, or anything about them. Anytime we talk about them or his past at all he is so vague."

"You don't think it's something...bad, do you?"

"I don't know. I don't think so but...maybe."

"Well, you should find out. You deserve to know what you are marrying into."

Yeah, but he's so sensitive about the issue it's hard to bring up…"

Melony trailed off as she noticed Al sitting on the steps leading up to her apartment which was now only a few steps away.

"Speak of the devil," she said smiling, loud enough for him to hear.

"Who are you talking to?" he asked, giving her a kiss on the cheek.

"Wendy."

"Oh, I love Wendy. Tell her I say hello."

"Al says hi," Melony said into the phone.

"Tell him he needs to stop giving you trouble about his family."

"Okay, Wendy, I'll talk to you later, bye."

Melony hung up the phone shoved it into her pocket.

"What did she say?" Al asked.

"She just said 'hi' back."

Al gave melony a skeptical look. He seemed to always know when she was laying.

"So what are you doing here? I thought you had to work late tonight."

"I do, but I had a break so I decided to come see you," he said pulling her close.

"Honey, you can't keep traveling all the way over here, they're going to notice that you're away from your desk. Your breaks can't be that long."

"They are long enough. It's really no bother."

"Well, it will be better once we are both living over there. Just three more months."

"Are you sure you can do all of this and teach over the summer?

"I don't really have a choice, we need the money. Plus everything is almost done. I just need to tell the venue how many are attending by next week."

"I'll just call them now, we have the guest list done."

"We can wait one more week. What if we want to add someone last minute...like your parents."

"Melony," Al said sighing, "I know that you think that not inviting my family will cause some huge discord, but you need to trust me when I say it will just be better to tell them after the fact."

"But don't you want them there? I don't want _you _to regret not having them there."

"It would just be a big hassle. Including them will mean having a big wedding, and I know that you don't want that."

"I can handle a big wedding if it means having your family there. I can handle anything if it means making you happy."

Al looked down at Melony intensely. He tended to do this a lot. she would sometimes catch him staring at her like this when they were doing something mundane like watching T.V. It almost felt like he was reading her soul.

His intense stare was interrupted, however, by the sound of his name being shouted out across the street, "Albus!"

Melony and Al quickly looked around to see a very strange woman crossing the street toward them. She had long, dark blonde hair which lay around her, covering her like a cloak, and was dressed in a long, 70s style, dress with a crazy flower pattern, thigh-high bright red rainboots, and so many bangles, Melony wondered how she was able to hold her arms up. Swinging from her ears appeared to be huge radishes.

"Who is that?" asked Melony.

"I don't know," said Al in a slightly frightened tone. "We should go inside."

"I think she knows you."

"No, I don't think so."

"She called you Albus. That's not a very common name."

By this time the woman had crossed the street and was now only a few yards from where the pair stood; Melony mesmerized, Al uneasy.

"Albus, hello," said the woman in a very soft, airy, English accent.

"Oh, hello," said Al, feigning surprise.

"How are you doing, honey?" she asked as she gave him a big hug.

"I'm good, thanks."

"I can't believe it it you," the woman continued, looking Al up and down. "i would recognize you anywhere, you look just like your father did at your age. Almost gave me a fright."

There was a pause as the woman continues to look over Al with her huge, silvery grey eyes.

"Hello," said Melony to break the awkward silence. "I'm Melony."

The woman slowly turned her unblinking gaze to Melony. "Hello. Who are you?"

"I'm Melony," Melony said again unsure if the woman had heard her the first time. "I'm Al's fiance."

The woman's eyes grew even wider, and her mouth opened slightly. "Fiance," she said, "Al, your parents didn't tell me you were engaged."

"Melony," said Al, ignoring the woman, "this is Mrs. Newt, an old family friend."

"You can call me Luna," she said in a far off voice, now looking Melony up and down.

"It's very nice to meet you, Luna" said Melony.

"Yes...engaged…" said Luna distantly. "Well, i suppose I shall take off then."

"It was good to see you Aunt Luna," said Al.

"Yes, good to see you too dear. Talk to your parents more, won't you?"

Al nodded as Luna gave melony one last look-over, whispered "engaged," and then floated off down the street as if moving through water.

Melony looked up at Al, her eyebrows raised, but he was watching Luna disappear, fear and foreboding etched on his face.

The next morning Melony awoke early and headed over to her and Al's new apartment on the other side of town. It took her a whole hour to get there. She still had no idea how he was able to visit her so much. She unlocked the door and let herself in. Al would be on his morning run and she wanted to get some things done around the house. Since moving in three months ago, Al was still living out of boxes.

As soon as she entered, She could hear Al's voice floating down from upstairs, talking to someone. Melony looked at her watch. Al must have gone for his run early. Maybe one of his running buddies was upstairs. She made her way to the stairs and called up, but he didn't answer so she ran up and was just about to enter the den when she heard a woman's voice.

"I don't know, Al, mum's really angry."

"Well just try to delay them. I haven't told Melony yet."

"Okay, I'll try."

"Al?" Melony said loudly and then entered the room to see Al sitting on the floor next to a roaring fire.

"Hi, honey, I didn't see you come in," he said.

"I called your name, but you didn't answer. I thought you would be on a run."

"I decided not to go today."

"Who were you talking to?"

"Nobody," he said casually.

Melony looked from him to the fireplace and then to his phone which was sitting on a table several feet to Al's left.

"Why did you build a fire? It's really nice outside."

"I just like the look of it."

Melony studied him for a moment, but he was unreadable.

"Look, Al, I know you don't like to talk about your family, but is there something I should know about them?"

"Like what?" he asked standing.

"I don't know, i just feel like you're keeping something from me and we're about to get married so if there is anything that might, potentially, affect us or our future family I think i should know about it."

"Melony, I promise that everything is fine."

Melony took a deep breath and blurted out something that had been permeating in the back of her mind ever since Wendy had brought it up the day before.

"Is your family involved in anything illegal?"

"What?"

"I mean, it would be okay-unless, maybe if they were murderers…."

"My family are not murderers! Well, not technically."

"What!"

"Melony," said Al, closing the space between them and placing his hands on her arms, "I promise that my family is fine. It's just...really hard to understand."

"Can you please at least try?"

Al looked at Melony deeply, sighed, and then opened his mouth to speak just as the doorbell rang.

Melony let out a grunt of frustration and was just about to suggest that they ignore it when it rang again...and again...and again.

They hurried down the stairs and Al swung the door open to reveal a young lady with flaming red hair in the middle of ringing the doorbell for the seventh time.

"I'm sorry, Al," she said. slightly out of breath. "I tried...they're coming."

Just then a loud thud came from upstairs. The trio ran back upstairs and into the den in time to see a distinguished older gentleman standing in front of the fireplace brushing soot off of the robes he was wearing. Melony was about to ask how he was able to get inside the house when a second person came soaring out of the chimney and landed, unharmed, on top of the roaring fire. The woman stepped out of the fireplace and marched into the room as if she did this sort of thing all the time. Melony let out a faint squeal, but was drowned out by the arrival of yet a third person, this one much younger, who leaped out of the fireplace and glanced around.

"Blimey, Al," he said, "this room is sparse."

He then shook out his bright red hair-which matched the older woman's and the girl's from the door-and stood, hands on hips, looking about him as if he owned the place. Meanwhile, the older man was helping the woman out of what looked like a heavy cape.

"Hello, mum, hi dad," said the girl behind Al and Melony quietly.

The woman looked up and saw the girl half hiding behind Al.

"Lily!" she said, "How did you get here before us?"

"I disapparated," Lillie answered.

"All this way?" demanded the man.

Melony could tell that at one point the man's hair had been as black as Al's but was now almost completely gray.

"You shouldn't have done that," said the woman. "It's very dangerous."

"Mum, dad, what are you doing here?" Al asked a little meanly.

"Excuse me, young man, I don't like that tone of voice," said the woman placing her hands on her hips. "You're lucky we gave you as much notice as we did. Honestly, getting engaged without telling us!"

"Did Luna tell you?"

"It's Aunt Luna and yes. You can imagine how shocked we were, learning about your engagement from her, we didn't even know you were seeing someone!"

Melony glanced over at the man and noticed that he was staring at her with the same intense stare Al always gave her. They even had the same bright green eyes, except the man's was hidden behind round glasses.

"Hello," Melony said softly, her voice cracking.

She wanted to say something else but she couldn't. Her mind was paralyzed with shock and misunderstanding.

Thankfully, the man kindly smiled and said, "Hello, you must be Albus' fiance."

Melony nodded, still unable to speak.

"It's very nice to meet you," the man continued. "Allow me to make introductions; this is James, Albus' elder brother," he indicated the young man who smiled and winked at Melony. "I see you have met Lily, Albus' younger sister," he gestured to the young lady still hiding behind Albus who nodded curtly. "This is is Albus' mother, Ginny."

"So very nice to meet you, dear," the woman said.

"And I am Harry," the man continued. "Harry Potter."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 3: April, 2014

After Melony and Al had shown Mr. and Mrs. Potter, Lily, and James to some of the spare rooms of the house so they could set up and get comfortable, Melony dragged Al downstairs and into the kitchen.

"Al, what is going on? What was all of that upstairs?"

Al started making coffee and avoiding Melony's gaze. "You want some?" he asked.

"Al!"

"You're right, I should make some tea too," he said, starting to dig around in his boxes for a tea pot.

"Albus Severus Potter, you stop what you are doing right now and tell me what is going on."

Al straightened and stood with his hands on his hips, not looking at Melony. "You won't believe me," he said quietly.

"Tell me anyway."

"I'm a wizard," he said, finally turning around, "and I am from a family of wizards that go back a long ways."

Melony blinked at him for a moment before saying, "Like, you're wicken? Your family are wicken?"

"No, no I mean we can do magic."

"You mean magic tricks. You guys are magicians. That fireplace trick was really cool, you'll have to tell me how you did that."

"No, actual magic," said Al, coming over to where Melony was standing at the counter that separated the breakfast nook from the rest of the kitchen, "with wands."

Melony stared at Al, her brain working overtime, trying to come up with a reasonable explanation. Then, it dawned on her.

"Oh, my gosh," she said, "your parents are named Harry and Ginny and they named their kids James, Albus, and Lily? Your family is trying to be Harry Potter! From those books!"

"You've read the Harry Potter books?"

"Of course I have, everyone my age has."

"Well, those books were based on my dad's life."

"No, they're not. Those are made up stories."

"I know this is hard to believe, but those books were not made up. The lady who wrote them is a friend of my Aunt Hermione's"

"Al, if this is a joke, please stop, it's not funny," said Melony, tears starting to form in the back of her eyes. "Just tell me what is actually going on."

Al gazed down at Melony, extreme love and sadness filling his eyes. He slowly bent down, undid the velcro on one of the bigger pockets in his cargo shorts that he always insisted on wearing, and pulled out a long, wooden wand. He pointed it at one of the coffee cups sitting on the counter and flicked his wrist. The cup changed into a mouse and started scurrying across the counter. Melony jumped back and squealed, but Al flicked his wrist again and the mouse changed back into a cup.

Melony stared at the cup, trying to understand. She looked back up at Al and was just about to ask him how he had been able to do it when he made a quarter turn and disappeared. A split second later, there was loud CRACK and Al reappeared across the room.

Melony teetered for a moment and had to sit on a nearby stool to steady herself. "How did you do that?" she asked.

Al crossed the room in three paces and grabbed Melony's hand. "Melony, you must believe me when I tell you that I know you and I love you and I would never do anything to hurt you. I swear that I am telling the truth."

Melony stared into Al's unblinking gaze and could see how earnest he was. She thought she knew him too...no, she told herself, she did know him, and he would never joke about something so serious.

"Okay," she said, taking a deep breath, "let's talk about this."

Al sat on the stool that was next to Melony's and nodded. "Okay," he said. "Ask me anything you want."

"The Harry Potter series that J.K. Rowling wrote is a true story."

"Yes."

"About your father."

"Yes."

"Does that mean that everything in those books actually happened?"

"Yes, for the most part. She set it a little later than it actually happened, and took some literary liberties with a few of the conversations, but everything else is true."

"So you are actually twenty-four."

"Yes. My father was born in '66 and the battle of Hogwarts happened in '83."

"Why did she change the dates?"

"I don't know, I've never actually met her."

"Why was she allowed to write the story and produce it in the real world?"

"You mean produce it to Muggles?"

"Sure."

"My dad is extraordinarily famous. After he killed Voldemort, it was hard for him to go anywhere or do anything without twenty people following him around, documenting his every move, or wanting an autograph, or asking for his life's story. On top of that, he married a famous quidditch player which made everything ten times worse. He refused to give out his story because he didn't trust anyone to tell it right, so they were being pestered by hundreds of journalists and authors constantly. When they had me, the press had a field day calling me 'the son of the chosen one' since I looked so much like him. They had been pretty bad with James, but with me they were downright dangerous, so my parents decided they had to do something. It was my Aunt Hermione who had the idea to sell it to a muggle. That way, my father could tell the press that he had sold the rights to his story to the muggle, and that they would have to talk to her if they wanted any part of it, all the while knowing that they would not be able to do so under the Muggle Secrecy Act."

"But wouldn't your dad get into trouble for breaking that same act?"

"By then Kingsley was Minister of Magic and he and my dad were pretty good friends so they allowed it as long as the book was published as a fictional novel in the Muggle world."

"So why was J.K. Rowling chosen to write the book?"

"She and my Aunt Hermione were really good friends back in primary school before my aunt found out she was a witch. They had kept in touch and my aunt knew that she was a good, solid writer. My aunt magically delayed a train ride Rowling was on one day so she could meet my dad and they could explain their idea to her. After that she and my dad would meet in various Muggle coffee shops with my dad under his invisibility cloak so no one from the wizarding world would find them and expose them before Rowling could get the book out."

"So all of that stuff Rowling said about changing some of the major plot points half-way through-like killing off Sirius Black instead of Mr. Weasley-were not true?"

Al nodded. "All made up. According to my dad, she is very smart and creative. He still speaks of her with admiration."

"What does your dad do now?"

Al hesitated for a brief moment. "He's the Minister of Magic."

"Really?"

"Yes. Stepped in during my final year at Hogwarts."

Melony stopped to think a moment, a thousand questions swirling around in her head. One last desperate part of her was still trying to come up with another, reasonable explanation, but that voice was growing more and more dim. She just couldn't see any other explanation for the fireplace, or the mouse, or the way Al had disappeared.

Once her brain started accepting the reality that this was indeed Harry Potter's son, other things in her life started making more sense, like how Al was able to visit her from across town so often, or how this apartment that they had just bought together looked way bigger on the inside than it did on the outside. It also explained some of the strange people who would stop them on the street to shake Al's hand. Melony had always assumed that they were people Al had encountered in his line of work (he was a police officer in New York City after all), but maybe….

"Oh, my gosh!" Melony said coming to another realization. "That lady we met yesterday, that wasn't Luna Lovegood was it?"

"Yeah, except it's Luna Newt now. She married a guy named Magizoologist Newt and they had twin boys. She's actually my godmother. My godfather is Neville Longbottom."

"And is he actually a teacher at Hogwarts?"

"Yep, still there. Married to a woman named Hannah Abbot."

"Any kids?"

"No."

"What about his parents?"

"Still alive, still at St. Mungo's"

"What about you?"

Al stopped short. Melony had slipped this question in on purpose. It was really where she had wanted to go in the first place. Sure, she was mildly curious about everybody else, but the only person she really cared about was Al, and the life he had hidden from her.

"What about me?" Al asked cautiously.

Melony seared him with a look before saying, "Why are you here, Al?"

"It just got to be too much," he said getting up and walking around the counter to pour himself a cup of coffee.

"What did?" asked Melony, swiveling around to face him.

"Everything," Al said shrugging. "The attention, the expectations; do you know how many times my father has said to me 'now remember, Albus, who you are named after. Two of the greatest wizards of all time. Make them proud.'"

Melony remained silent and watched as Al took a sip of his coffee and stared out of the window. Eventually, he looked back at her, set his cup down and leaned on the counter heavily.

"After I left Hogwarts, I was accepted into the auror program at the Ministry. It was what everyone expected. James had tried to get in the year before but "decided" to pursue a career as a professional quidditch player instead. I had the grades, the agility, and the lineage, and everyone expected me to follow in my father's footsteps. I quickly rose through the ranks and found that I actually liked the work, but the higher I rose, the more attention I got which made James rebel more and more causing my parents a lot of stress."

"Why was he acting out?" Melony asked as Al stopped to take a breath.

Al looked behind him to the kitchen door and then started to reach for his wand which was sitting next to his hand on the counter. He hesitated over it, then took his hand back and lowered his voice instead.

"My brother," he said almost whispering, "thrives on attention. Anytime I do anything remotely noteworthy he'll do something to make sure the attention goes back to him. Usually it's something destructive. He's the reason I quit quidditch my fifth year of school."

"You were on the quidditch team?"

Al nodded. "Got on my third year as seeker. James was already on as chaser."

"He felt threatened just because you made the team?"

"Well," said Al, smiling slightly, "I was pretty good. They started comparing me to dad, which is something James can't stand. He teases me about riding dad's coattails and being called 'Potter's Boy' but I know it's because he wants to be the one to carry on dad's legacy. It killed him when I made it into the auror program."

"Is that why you left?"

"It didn't help, but no. The reason I finally quit was Amelia Bones."

"That name sounds really familiar."

"You're probably thinking of her great aunt whom she's named after. Her mother is Susan Bones who is mentioned in the books a couple of times."

"That must be it. Who is Amelia?"

"Remember how I told you that before you I had had only one other significant girlfriend?"

"Yeah…."

"Well, that was her. Her mother and my Aunt Hermione work in the same department at the ministry and are really good friends. They kind of set us up. Right after school, Amelia got a job in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and sort of became my aunt's protege. We were both rising stars in our respective fields and we are both from very famous, established families, so when we got together we became the new celebrity power couple. It took us only a couple of months to figure out that we were not right for each other, but we stayed together because we didn't want to disappoint our families and we knew our careers would suffer if we split. Finally, after a year we called it quits."

Al pauses to take a sip. Melony motions for him to pour her a cup which he does as he continues.

"The papers went after her hard. They blamed the whole breakup on her and claimed that she had used me to further her career and then had left me heartbroken. The whole thing probably set her back a whole year. Then, with all of this going on, James decides to lash out by publicly partying and drinking and in general making a complete ass of himself. To his credit it worked. For a whole month he was seen on the front page of the paper doing something idiotic."

"So you left," said Melony stirring sugar into her coffee.

"So I left," repeated Al. "left the wizarding world, left the country, left my family...left it all."

"How long had you been here by the time we first met?"

"A couple of days."

Melony fell silent. A nagging, depressing sensation was creeping into the back of her mind, but it was having trouble forming into a coherent thought. at the moment it was just a feeling. An uneasy feeling that made her feel small.

Al remained silent and watched her as she stared into her coffee and tried to process what she was feeling. That word "small" kept bouncing around in her head until finally it clicked into place.

She was a Muggle. She hadn't realized until just now how small Muggles seemed to be. How they seemed to come off as stupid and easily manipulated. She knew that Al would never manipulate her, but she was now worried why he was with her.

She looked up at him and could tell that he was concerned. She knew that she would need to bring this up now if she wanted to at all, but she didn't know how.

"Al," she started slowly, "why...why are you with me?"

Al's face quickly transformed from concern to confusion. "Because I love you," he said simply.

"It's just that," Melony said stumbling, "that Muggles seem to be, kind of, seen as...simple, I guess, and since I was the first one you met…."

"Are you serious?" Al asked indignantly. "You are not the first Muggle I met."

"You know what I meant, Al," said Melony matching his tone. "It's a legitimate concern."

"No it's not. Do you remember our first year together and how helpless I was? If it hadn't been for you, I wouldn't have made it in the Muggle world. Muggles are creative and complex and their technology is beyond some of the hardest spells I have ever had to learn. You are the smartest, kindest, most caring person I have ever met and for years I have been trying to catch up with you. I am constantly wondering why _you_ are with _me _and I haven't been able to figure it out. And now," he said, his tone softening as his shoulders slumped, his whole body seeming to grow tired, "now, with all of this going on with my family showing up and finding out I'm a wizard, all you care about is whether we are still good."

Melony shrugged. "It's all I really care about," she said softly.

Al walked slowly around the counter that separated them and lifted Melony up and into his arms. All of her anxiety and doubts melted away and she embraced him, and it was just the two of them, twenty-four hours ago, getting married in three months, with nothing standing in their way.

Eventually they had to let go and face their new reality, but now Melony felt more confident, because at least now she knew what she was facing, and at least she still had Al.

"I think I'm going to go home and let you and your family catch up," said Melony as soon as they had separated. "Do you think they'll mind if I leave?"

"No, they'll be fine. You should go home and rest up for tomorrow. If I know my parents at all, my Aunt Hermione and my Uncle Ron are coming."


	3. Chapter 3 - FIXED

**A/N - Thank you everyone for letting me know about how this chapter was corrupted. I am so sorry it took me so long to fix it, but I have not been able to get online until now. Thanks for reading!**

Chapter 3: April, 2014

The next morning Melony rolled groggily out of her bed and hazily made her way to the kitchen. For a few wonderfully brief moments, she wondered why she felt so tense and stressed, but then, her brain started the wake up and she remembered. She was getting married to a wizard. And not just any wizard, the son of Harry Potter.

She sat in her kitchen drinking her coffee and staring out the window, mulling over everything she had learned. After she had left Al, she spent all day researching everything she could about the Harry Potter universe. She couldn't be sure if everything she learned on the internet was true, but at least she wouldn't be caught off guard.

She was deep in thought when there was a loud CRACK and Al appeared right in front of her which caused Melony to jump, spilling coffee all over her bathrobe.

"Arg!" she yelled, jumping up, the hot coffee burning her.

"Hold on," Al said, running up to her and taking his wand out. He waved it over her and instantly the burning subsided and the coffee stain started disappearing. "I am so sorry, are you okay?"

"Yeah," Melony said looking down at her clean robe. "You just startled me, that's all."

"I know, I'm sorry," Al apologized again. "I was trying to get over here to make you coffee before you got up. I didn't think you would be up this early."

"I kind of had a restless night," Melony said, pouring herself another cup.

"Really?" Al asked concerned.

"A little but don't worry about it. Where's your family?"

"That's also why I'm here," Al said, shuffling around the small kitchen and avoiding Melony's eye. "They want to come over and make breakfast for you. They feel really bad about yesterday."

"They want to come over here?" Melony asked, looking around at her tiny apartment. "Why don't I go over to our place?"

"They don't want to make you travel all the way over. It's faster and easier for them to come here."

"But I don't really have the room"

"It's only going to be the six of us...plus my aunt and uncle," Al said, muttering the last part.

"Your aunt and uncle are already here?"

"No, not yet, but they will be in an hour. My parents want to come over and have breakfast ready before they get here."

"Okay," Melony said, taking a deep breath. "Can you give me ten minutes to get ready?"

"Sure, take all the time you need."

Al gave Melony a quick peck on the cheek and started to turn, but Melony stopped him. "Al, next time you do that," she said waving toward where he had appeared and was now about to disappear, "shoot me a quick text first, okay?"

"Yeah, sure, okay," he said.

And then he was gone.

Twenty minutes later Melony headed out of her bedroom and into the kitchen. Al had texted her ten minutes earlier to let her know that they were all there and had started breakfast, but Melony could have guessed from all the noise. She quietly stood in the entrance to the kitchen/livingroom, staring at the way the eggs and bacon leapt in and out of the pan without any assistance, the hash browns fried themselves and the toast put itself in and out of the toaster.

All of the Potters were crammed around the small table that was shoved into one of the corners of the living room. Mr Potter was hidden behind a newspaper whose pictures kept moving around, Mrs. Potter was chatting Al's ear off about family events, James was butting in when he felt Mrs. Potter wasn't doing the story justice (which was often), and Lily was staring down at her cup of tea, quietly stirring it.

During one of James' interruptions, Mrs. Potter stood and headed into the kitchen to supervise the cooking.

"Melony, hello, it's so good to see you again!" Mrs. Potter said when she saw Melony standing in the entryway and giving her a big hug. "How are you feeling?"

"Pretty good, thanks. Do you need any help?" Melony asked, eyeing the flying food and wondering how she even could help.

"No, dear, you just relax and let me finish up. I am so sorry about barging in like that yesterday, I had no idea that you didn't know. Al hasn't kept in touch with us as much as we would like."

"It's fine, I'm just trying to get used to it still."

"Of course, of course. Now, you sit and let me finish up in here."

Mrs. Potter gave Melony a slight nudge toward the table where she took the unoccupied seat next to Al.

"So, Melony," James said, rocking back in his chair and smiling from ear to ear, a gleam of mischief ever present in his eyes. "Al here told us that you had no idea about us."

"Yeah," Melony said. "It was a bit surprising."

"I bet! Imagine not knowing about wizards. Has he told you about quidditch yet? It's a sport us wizards play. I play it professionally. It's kind of a big deal."

"Al told me you played professionally."

"He did, did he? Look at my little brother bragging on me," James said, ruffling Al's hair. "Maybe he and I can take you out later and show you how it's done. You still got your broomstick, Al?"

"Er, no," Al said, not looking at James.

"No? Well, that's okay, I'll show you, Mel. Al would probably just slow us down anyway, isn't that right Al? Al used to be on the quidditch team at school, but couldn't hack it past a year. Pressure got to him."

"What do you do, Lily?" Melony asked, feeling Al tense up beside her.

"I'm a journalist," Lily said quietly.

"Lily writes for the Daily Prophet," Al said proudly, nodding his head toward the newspaper his father was still hiding behind.

"Wow, really?" Melony asked.

Lily nodded, staring at the paper, absentmindedly stirring her tea. "That one's mine," she said, pointing to an article entitled "Breakdown of Ministry: Who is going, and who is going to replace them?"

"Yes, and it's very good, sweety," Mr Potter said, folding the paper and setting it down. "Just finished reading it."

Melony looked at Mr. Potter closely and could just make out the faint scar, hidden among wrinkles, running like a lightning bolt down the right side of his forehead.

"I was just telling Melony that we should take her out for quidditch," James said to his father.

"Yes, I heard, son," Mr. Potter replied smiling, his eyes twinkling.

"Pop used to play quidditch too," James continued, now turning toward Melony. "He was excellent."

"Your mother was the professional player," Mr. Potter said. "I only played a couple years for the school team."

"Yes, but you are wicked fast on a broomstick," James said. "Just the other day…."

"James," Mrs. Potter said coming in from the kitchen and sitting in a chair Melony didn't recognize, "be quiet and let the poor girl speak. Now, Melony, what is it you do?"

"I'm a Special Ed teacher."

"Oh, a professor," Mrs. Potter said. "Good for you, Al"

"Did I tell you I'm dating a model?" James broke in. "A muggle model."

"Last I heard you were dating several," Al muttered under his breath.

"Now, boys, that's enough," Mr. Potter said as James opened his mouth to retaliate. "I'm very sorry, Melony. Please continue."

"Well, that's about it," Melony said, shrugging, "not very exciting. Moved to New York to go to school and two years later I met Al. Sitting on a bus bench. In the rain."

Melony smiled up at Al and he leaned down to kiss her on the forehead.

"That is so sweet," Mrs. Potter crooned. "I wish your father and I had a story like that."

"That's not exactly fair, we met as children," Mr. Potter said. "Besides, our story is pretty romantic. We got to fight side by side in one of the greatest battles in history."

"That's true," Mrs. Potter said, her eyes twinkling as she looked off.

"I would love to write about you guys," Lily said to Al. "I think it would make a great story."

"Thank you, Lily, but no," Al said hastily.

"Oh, come on, sweety, everyone's dying to know what happened to you and your exciting life in New York," Mrs. Potter said.

"I'd rather everyone didn't know," Al said into his cup.

"Why not?" his mother demanded. "Is this because you are marrying a muggle, because I did not raise you-"

"Mum!"

"Well, is it?"

"No!"

"Then why won't you let your sister write the piece?"

There was a tense silence as Al and his mother stared each other down.

"It's really okay," Lily said quietly. "It was just a suggestion."

Three more elongated seconds of silence followed this statement before the doorbell rang and everyone jumped.

"Oh my goodness, they're early!"

Mrs. Potter jumped up and ran to the front door as the rest of the family slowly rose and followed her. Melony stayed in the back with Al and watched as the family crowded into the small entryway and Mrs. Potter swung the door open.

Standing on the threshold was a man and a woman who were the same age as Al's parents. The woman had wild, bushy brown hair that had streaks of gray in it, while the man's was the same color red as the rest of the family's, and was thinning on top.

As soon as the door opened, the woman and Mrs. Potter squealed and hugged while the man and Mr. Potter shook hands.

"Oy, mate, how's it going?" said the man with a huge smile on his face before turning to James. "And how's my godson? Keeping out of trouble?"

"Of course, Uncle Ron," James said before lowering his voice to add, "but between you and me, I'm excited to check out the New York scene."

"You and me both," Ron muttered.

"Ron!" the woman exclaimed, apparently hearing him.

"Only joking," he said shrugging.

"Hello, James," the woman said hugging him.

"Hello, Aunt Hermione, how's Rose?" James asked, the twinkle of mischief in his eye practically blinding.

"She's fine," Hermione said, pursing her lips. "How's Amber?"

"Clueless as always," James said smiling widely.

"Honestly," Hermione muttered as she turned to Lily. "Hello, Lily, how are you?"

"I'm good, Aunt Hermione," Lily said.

Hermione eyed Lily suspiciously before finally turning to Mr. Potter. "Harry," she said curtly.

"Hermione," he replied.

"Why don't we head into the kitchen?" Mrs. Potter said loudly and then shooed everyone backward out of the entranceway and into the kitchen.

Melony hung back with Al, who grabbed Lily as she walked by. "Lil, what was all that with dad and Aunt Hermione?" he asked in a hushed tone.

"They've been butting heads as work. Aunt Hermione is trying to get a new law passed and dad's delaying it."

"What's the law?" Melony asked.

"Some kind of extended rights for House Elves."

Al groaned. "How long?"

"A couple of months."

"Great."

"They won't talk about it here though," Lily said. "Mum has forbidden it."

"Well, at least that's something," said Al. "By the way, what was with the look Aunt Hermione gave you?"

"You noticed that too?" Lily asked, worried.

Al nodded just as Mrs. Potter shouted from the kitchen. "Al! Get in here and say hello to your Aunt and Uncle!"

Al, Melony, and Lily headed into the living room, which now contained a huge table Melony knew she didn't own, laden with food.

"Al, there you are," Hermione said, moving over to the trio and giving Al a big hug. "I must have missed you in all the hustle and bustle."

"Hello, Aunt Hermione, it's good to see you," Al said, giving his aunt a long and affectionate hug and then turning to Melony. "This is Melony."

"Hello, Melony, it is so very nice to meet you," she said, shaking Melony's hand and then turning her head to shout into the kitchen. "Ron!"

Hermione looked around and saw Ron talking to Mr. Potter. "Ron!" she shouted again.

"What?" Ron shouted back.

"Come say hello to Melony!"

Ron heaved himself off of the counter he was leaning on and shuffled over.

"This is Melony," Hermione said as soon as he made it over. "Al's fiance."

"Ah, so this is Melony," he said, shaking Melony's hand. "Good going marrying a muggle, son," he said, shaking Al's hand. "Your grandfather is very proud."

"Okay, everyone! Come sit and eat!" Mrs. Potter called.

Everyone made their way to the table and started negotiating over spots, but Al made a beeline to the chair right across from his mother. "You told Grandpa?" he asked, shouting over all the noise.

"Of course, dear," Mrs. Potter said calmly. "I told everyone."

"Why would you do that?"

"Because it's great news, dear. Everyone was worried about you living out here."

"Okay, but they can't all come to the wedding. Melony and I are planning a small ceremony."

"Of course they are coming! I can't tell them no now."

"You already invited them!"

"Now, Al, this is nothing to get upset over. Everyone wants to see you and catch up. they are all very excited for you."

"Melony has put a lot of time and effort into this wedding, we can't change everything now."

"Oh, that won't be a problem," Mrs. Potter said, waving Al's comment away.

Al opened his mouth to retaliate, but Melony stopped him. "It's okay," she said.

"No, it's not okay," Al shouted. "This is why I didn't want to invite them in the first place."

"You weren't going to invite us to your wedding?" Mrs. Potter said in such a deadly tone it made Melony cringe.

"No, I wasn't," Al said, unaffected by his mother's deadly stare. "Because I knew this," he waved his hands around the table, "would happen."

"This," Mrs. Potter said, making the same gesture as Al, "is your family, young man, and it's the only one you've got."

A ringing silence followed Mrs. Potter's declaration. Everyone sat still watching as Al and Mrs. Potter sat seething at each other.

Finally, after two very long and painful minutes, Ron spoke up. "So," he said, "who's going to be showing me the sights?"


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: July, 2014

The next three months were a whirlwind of wedding plans and last minute changes. The Potters and Weasleys had planned to stay a whole week, but things became so tense after Al and Mrs. Potter's fight that everyone went home four days early. After that, Mrs. Potter would stop by every other week or so to help Melony with the wedding plans. The biggest contention was over the guest list. Al kept insisting on cutting people while Mrs. Potter just kept adding them. The biggest fight came when Mrs. Potter demanded that Al's Uncle Dearsy and his family be added to the list. This fight only ended when Melony pointed out that the Dursleys were not magical and so would probably not fly all the way over from England.

Melony was more concerned with all of the witches and wizards who would be flooding New York. She didn't know enough about wizard travel to help out with any of the accommodations, but Mrs. Potter assured her that she and Al had it under control. Melony was more than happy to hand that responsibility over, but she was a little trepidatious handing it over to two people who never seemed to agree on anything.

So it was with extreme apprehension that Melony approached her wedding week.

The Wednesday evening before the big day, Melony was sitting in her living room, filling out place cards, when Al sent her a text saying that he was coming over. Two minutes later he was standing in her kitchen. She was so used to this by now that she didn't even look up when he popped up right in front of her and made his way over to the table.

"Here," she said pushing a stack of blank cards toward him, "you can do these."

Al sat down and started to fill out place cards. For ten whole minutes they sat in silence and rhythmically filled in names. Melony stopped after what felt like the millionth card and looked up at Al. She watched him filling out the cards by hand and realized that this was the first time where just the two of them were doing something for their wedding, alone, since April. She stared at him for a moment, relishing in their quiet, alone time, until he finally looked up at her and smiled.

"What?" he asked.

"Nothing. Just...breathing."

He laughed and stretched. "Better get it in now. Don't think there will be much time for it in the next three days."

"Speaking of which, how is everyone getting here?"

Al rubbed his eyes tiredly. "Some are taking portkeys. some are apparating, others are traveling by floo."

"Where are they landing?"

"There are designated areas set up by the wizarding traveling authorities of New York."

"Okay, good," Melony sighed and leaned back in her chair. "I thought maybe they would all have to come through our living room."

"No. I actually sealed it off this afternoon after my family arrived. Mum wasn't too happy with that."

"How are you and your mom? You guys getting along?"

"Enough."

The pair fell silent and looked around Melony's apartment which was now bare except for a few boxes.

"I really like this place, "Al said. "Maybe we should keep it."

"We can't afford it."

"It would be a nice place to put my parents when they visit, though."

"That's true," Melony said smiling.

There is another long pause before Melony glances sideways at Al. "So, I've been wondering. Since the Harry Potter books turned out to be true, are there any other books that are like that?"

"You mean books claiming to be false but aren't?"

"Yeah."

Al sits back in his chair and looks up, thinking. "I'm not really sure," he said slowly. "Although those Twilight books may be close."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Actually, I've been thinking about it since that time you took me to your friend's Twilight party and she started explaining the books to me. It is well known in the wizarding community that there are a group of vampires living in Washington. I don't know if it's just a coincidence or not, but ever since I've thought about traveling out there to find out. Maybe we can go for our honeymoon," he finished, looking at Melony and laughing.

Melony laughed too. "Maybe not for our honeymoon," she said, "but meeting vampires would be pretty fun,"

Al leaned over to kiss Melony on the forehead. "It's not as fun as you might think," he said.

He got up from his chair a yawned. "I think I'm going to head to bed. If I don't get back soon, Mum will start looking for me and then she'll come over here."

"Good idea," Melony said, also getting up. "Is everything ready for your dad's party tomorrow?"

"Pretty much. We rented out a small ballroom at a local wizarding hotel. Thought that would be better than trying to contain everyone in a muggle place."

"But everyone knows that on Friday and Saturday magic is off limits, right?"

"We are going to remind them tomorrow. I'm also having my cousins Fred and Hugo on confunding duty, just in case."

"What does that mean?"

"If anyone does or says anything magical in front of a muggle, Fred and Hugo will confund the muggle. It just makes them forget."

"I don't like that," Melony said shaking her head. "It sounds like your drugging them."

"It's completely harmless. We do it all the time."

"Have you done it to me?"

"No, I've never had to," Al said shrugging.

"But you would have if you had had to?"

"Probably."

"Al!"

"What? It's not that big of a deal."

"I think it is. You are taking advantage of someone because you screwed up. Plus, you are making them completely vulnerable."

"Melony, you just don't understand how the spell works."

"I don't care. I won't have it done to _my _guests."

"Then what should we do? Someone's bound to mess up, especially since there will be alcohol at the party."

"Fred and Hugo will just have to explain it away. People want to believe what they can understand."

"So it's okay to manipulate people by lying, but not by magic?"

"Yes, because at least by the end of the night, they will have remembered being there."

Al took a long, deep, steadying breath. "Okay," he said tensely. "I'll tell them, but if things get out of hand…"

"_I'll _deal with it," Melony said in a deadly voice.

Al gave her a weary look, nodded sharply, then spun and disappeared.

The next night, Al led Melony to a lonely stretch of the Hudson river and out onto a dock which contained one, small, run-down schooner. The gnarled old owner met Al on the dock, shook hands with him, and then helped him and Melony onto the boat and down into the hull where there was an elevator waiting for them. The young bellhop who bowed them into the elevator was practically giddy with excitement, and his hand shook as he pressed the down arrow.

"Are you here for the party?" he asked, practically jumping up and down. "What am I saying, of course you are! I would recognize you anywhere, you are Albus Potter! We are so honored to be hosting your family here today! We only wish the wedding could be here as well, but we do understand, it being a muggle wedding and all. Is this her? Is this the lucky muggle who will be joining the Potter clan?"

Just as he said this, the elevator gave a loud _ding _and the doors opened to reveal the most splendid hotel lobby Melony had ever seen. She and Al made their way through dozens of witches and wizards who were milling about, talking to each other, or sitting and reading the newspaper by one of hundreds of huge windows that depicted every scene imaginable. Several house elves were scurrying around, almost unseen, refilling drinks, or emptying ashtrays. If Melony had not been so concerned with keeping up with Al, she would have loved to stop and take it all in, but as it was, Al was moving swiftly through the lobby with his head down and eyes averted.

Within minutes they had made it to a back deserted hallway with only one set of double doors placed off to the right and a pair of bathrooms to the left. One of the double doors was open and Melony could hear the babble to conversations and the clinking of plates and glasses issuing from the room. She and Al slowly made their way toward this door, and peered in.

The room was alive. Orbs of light danced overhead, catching and reflecting the water which was visible from the huge, transparent windows lining the opposite wall. Platters of food slowly made their way around the room, hovering at arm's height with no support, and the bouquet of flowers adorning each table faded into different types of flowers in every color imaginable every few minutes.

Melony stood awestruck, looking around at the gorgeous room. "This is amazing," she breathed.

"Wait until next year," Al said. "It will be his 50th and I'm pretty sure I heard mum saying something about getting a live dragon. This was kind of thrown together. Mum didn't want to upstage our wedding."

"Well, she failed. There is no way we can do anything this cool."

Al shrugged, then proceeded into the ballroom. Melony followed as he weaved in and out of tables and people toward the front of the room where his parents were greeting guests.

"Hello, mum," Al said giving his mother a brief hug.

"Hello, dear," she said returning his brief hug and then turning and giving Melony a long and affectionate one. "Hello, Melony, how are you doing?"

"Pretty good. A little nervous."

"Oh, well, that's to be expected."

"Happy Birthday, Mr. Potter," Melony said, turning to Mr. Potter. She didn't really feel like discussing the wedding tonight.

"Thank you Melony," he said.

"Happy Birthday, dad," Al said, giving him a big hug.

"Thanks, son."

"Why don't you go around and introduce Melony to everyone?" Mrs. Potter asked.

"Sure, mum. Can you remind people that there is to be no magic at the wedding?"

"Of course, dear, but you know there is bound to be-"

"Yes, we know. Just remind everyone, please."

As soon as Al had said this, he spun and walked away before his mother could respond, dragging Melony with him. After crossing to the other side of the room, Al found a small table and pulled out a chair for Melony.

"I thought that instead of parading you around, We could just sit," he said.

"Thank you," Melony said, giving a sigh of relief as she sat down.

They had only been sitting for a moment when a man in a messy ponytail walked by their table and Al called out to him.

"Ted! Hey, Teddy!"

The man looked around, saw Al, and gave a huge smile. "Well, if it isn't little Albus! How are you, man?" he said shaking Al's hand vigorously.

"I'm good," Al said. "This is my fiance, Melony."

"There's the luck lady," Teddy said, opening his arms wide and giving Melony a huge hug. "You snagged a good one here, Melony. Al is one of the best people I know."

"You want to sit down for a minute?" Al asked, indicating the chair next to him.

"Sure, for a little bit. Can't stay in one place for too long, though."

"You still traveling?" Al asked as Teddy sat down.

"Yep, just got done shooting in India. After this, it's Argentina."

"Teddy's a photographer," Al said to Melony.

"Actually, your mum asked me to take photos at your wedding," Teddy said.

"She did?" Al asked, irritation in his voice.

"We already have a photographer," Melony said.

"I think she wanted some wizards' photos too," Teddy said.

"She shouldn't have done that," Al said. "You are there as our guest."

"Don't worry, she's paying me."

"Still…"

"Al, she's doing me a favor. I hate sitting through weddings. This way I can get up and move around."

"Well, it would be nice to have some moving photos. As long as you're okay with it," Al said.

"More than okay. Vic isn't too thrilled, but that's about normal. She'll get over it. She always does."

Al looked at Teddy concerned as Teddy gazed un-looking across the ballroom.

"Where is Victorie?" asked Al.

"Over talking to George and Angelina," Teddy said, bobbing his head toward a trio of people who were talking about fifty feet away. One was an older, balding, red-headed man with glasses and a bit of a stoop standing next to a handsome older black woman. They were both speaking to a beautiful blonde woman who would have been gorgeous if it hadn't been for the premature wrinkles lining her face.

"I should go say hi to Uncle George," Al said, standing up.

"Yeah, I'm going to...work the room," Teddy said, waving his hands over the room before wandering off in the opposite direction of Victorie, George, and Angelina.

Al watched him go, concern and sadness etched on his face.

"Honey?" Melony said, softly touching Al's arm. "I'm going to find a bathroom, okay?"

"Okay," Al said, snapping out of his stare and looking down at Melony. "I'll be over talking to my Uncle George."

Melony nodded, kissed him lightly, then moved off toward the hallway outside of the room. She passed by witches and wizards who were dressed in colorful robes, showing each other pictures which waved up at the viewers, or swishing their wands to make food and goblets appear out of thin air. Melony, dressed in her thrift store sheath dress, was starting to feel very out of place and made her way as silently and quickly as she could to the open doorway. As soon as she had made it to the hallway, however, she wished she had made a little more noise since standing in the empty hallway, right in front of the bathrooms, were Mr. Potter and Hermione arguing loudly.

"It's been months, Hermione. I can't delay this anymore. I am vetoing the bill."

"You can't do that, Harry! I have been working on this for far too long! Why aren't you on my side?"

"Because it is not in their best interest."

"You're only thinking of _your _best interest and the interests of all the witches and wizards who only want to work those poor creatures to death!"

"I am not having this argument with you again. I am vetoing the bill. If I get overruled, fine, but I am not okaying a law that is just going to make house elves miserable."

Mr. Potter moved around Hermione and opened the door to the men's bathroom.

"Think about Doby!" Hermione threw at him, in a last ditch effort.

Mr. Potter froze, becoming rigid. He slowly turned to face Hermione, his face deadly, his eyes cold. "It's over, Hermione," he said then slammed the bathroom door behind him so hard the picture on the wall between the two doors fell to the floor, it's occupants screaming.

Hermione stomped her foot furiously, then stormed past the ballroom door where Melony was hovering and out into the lobby.

Melony waited for a full minute before venturing into the hallway and scurrying into the woman's bathroom. Once inside, she leaned against one of the sinks and took a couple of deep breaths, trying to gather herself. She looked up into the mirror, ready to fix her flyaway hair when she noticed Luna standing right next to her, having walked up unnoticed by Melony.

"Oh, hello," Melony said, startled, "I didn't see you."

"Yes, I was hiding in here because of the fighting," Luna said in her airy voice. "Didn't want to interrupt."

"Well, I think it's over now."

"Okay," Luna said, not moving.

Melony nodded turning back toward the sink and starting to wash her hands just to have something to do.

"Aren't you going to use the bathroom?" Luna asked.

"Um, no," Melony said drying her hands. "I mostly just came in here to take a breath."

"I get that," said Luna, looking around. "I often sneak away when life become too overwhelming."

Melony nodded and started to move slowly toward the door.

"Melony?"

"Yes?"

"I'm sorry for exposing your engagement. I didn't know it was a secret."

"Actually, you did me a favor. The engagement wasn't supposed to be a secret and it's better that everything is out in the open."

"Yes," Luna said quietly, once again looking around the bathroom.

Melony waited for her to keep going, but Luna remained silent, so Melony slid out the door and hurried into the ballroom, looking for Al. He was standing in the same place, speaking to George, Angelina and Victorie apparently having moved off.

"That's really too bad," Al was saying as Melony slid up to him, and put her arm through his. "I hope he can still make it to the wedding."

"Who?" Melony asked.

"My Uncle Charlie," Al said. "He got detained at work."

"Loose dragon," said George smiling. His face contained the marks of someone who constantly smiled, yet when he did smile, there was a sadness hidden in the corners, and his eyes had no life to them.

"That sounds exciting," Melony said.

"It would be if Charlie were still out in the field," George said laughing, "but he's not young and spry like the rest of us."

George finished this statement by puffing up his chest and patting his gut, which was slightly protruding.

"You'd have to be to keep up with all the kids at the shop," Al said as Fred and Hugo walked up to the group.

"You know it!" George said. "But my son here is a big help on that front. Training him to take over the business, isn't that right?"

"You know it, pop!" Fred said. "By the way, mum's looking for you."

Fred pointed across the room where Angelina was standing with an older, grizzled-looking man in a white ponytail and the most beautiful woman Melony had ever seen, with long, shimmering blonde hair.

George's face dropped into slight concern for a brief moment before snapping back into his normal smile.

"Better go deal with this then," George said, winking at Al and Melony before striding off across the room.

"So," Al said, as soon as George was out of earshot. "What was up with that phony response?"

Fred smiled and shook his head at Al. Melony tried to hide her smile, but it was hard. Al was always doing this. He was able to read people better than anyone Melony had ever met. It was part of what made him a great detective.

"I still haven't told dad that I don't want the shop."

"Ah, still wanting to go chase dragons with good ol' Uncle Charlie?" Al asked.

"Yep. Haven't found a way to tell dad yet," Fred said.

"Don't you mean you haven't gotten the courage up to tell him?" Hugo said teasingly.

"Well he's got this weird thing about not liking the idea of me risking my life," Fred said, and then winked at Melony in much the same way his father had done. "Al, you have not introduced us to the stunning young lady next to you."

"Fred, Hugo, this is Melony. Melony, these are my cousins, Fred and Hugo. Fred is my Uncle George and Aunt Angelina's son, and Hugo is Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione's son."

"Much obliged, ma'am," they said in unison while bowing deeply toward her.

Melony watched as the two of them rose with their matching red hair and devilish grins and couldn't help but feel a slight sense of deja vu.

"It's very nice to meet you both," she said. "And thank you so much for helping out with the wedding."

"Of course!" Fred said. "We'd do anything for Al."

"Got us out of a lot of scrapes in our younger years," Hugo said, rocking back on his heels.

"Of course, most of the scrapes we got into because of James," Fred pointed out.

"Where is James?" Hugo asked. "I haven't seen him yet."

"He said he might stop by if he got the chance," Al said rolling his eyes. "Said he was denied the 'New York Experience' the last time he was here and was not going to miss his chance this time."

"Bet Aunt Ginny loved that," Fred said.

"Al," Melony piped in, wishing to get the subject away from his mother and brother, "did you tell them about the wedding yet?"

"Oh, yes," he said turning toward the boys. "There is to be no confunding during the wedding."

"No confunding?" Hugo asked. "What's our job then?"

"Damage control without using magic," Melony said. "You know, try to explain away the incident rather than cover it up."

"Slick talk our way out of it, eh?" Hugo said stroking his chin. "What do you think, Fred?"

"I like it, Hugo," Fred said. "Sounds like an interesting challenge."

"_If _something goes really wrong though-" Al started.

"They will come to _me _and _I _will handle it," Melony finished for him.

"Sounds good to us," Fred said. "You're the boss."

They all looked over at Hugo for confirmation, but he was no longer paying attention. He was looking at the entrance to the ballroom and the color had drained out of his face.

"Damn it," he said softly.

The group followed his gaze to see a young girl with wild, curly red hair holding hands with a pale young man, who looked as if his translucent eyebrows were constantly furrowed in disgust.

Al groaned next to Melony when he saw the odd pair and Fred snorted.

"What a prick," said Fred.

"Which one?" asked Hugo sarcastically.

"When did this happen?" asked Al.

"About a year ago," said Hugo. "Although she's been threatening it for a while. Dad's gonna go ballistic."

Melony looked around the room and saw Hermione scurrying toward the door, her hair flying and her eyes blazing. The young woman was watching Hermione storm toward her, a smirk on her face.

"Who is she?" Melony whispered to Al.

"That's my cousin, Rose, Hugo's sister," Al said. "And the guy she'd holding hands with is Scorpious Malfoy."


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: July, 2014

Al crossed the room between him and Rose in ten paces and landed in front of her before Hermione had even made it halfway across the room. Melony landed right next to him half a second later, breathing hard.

"Rose, what are you doing?" Al asked.

"Al!" Rose exclaimed, giving him a huge hug. "How are you? I've missed you! And this must be Melony. It is so great to meet you!" Rose said, also giving Melony a huge hug and then straightening and grabbing onto the arm of the young man next to her. "Al, you know Scorpius."

Al shot Scorpius a quick, sideways glance as Scorpius bowed his head toward him as if addressing a peasant.

"Yes, I know Scorpius," Al said. "Why is he here?"

"Oh, haven't you heard? We are dating. Have been for a while now."

"Young lady, what are you doing?" Hermione huffed as she finally made it to the little group, her hair wild and falling in her face.

"I was invited, mother."

"You were, but he wasn't."

"Who said he wasn't invited? Dad? This isn't dad's party. If it were dad's party, I would have made sure not to come."

"That is enough! You will not speak about your father like that."

"Or what?" Rose asked threateningly.

There was a tense silence as mother and daughter stared each other down only to be broken by Ginny's voice which echoed throughout the ballroom.

"If everyone could take their seats," Ginny's voice said, "we are about to begin the toasts!"

"We will talk later," Hermione whispered before whirling around and running off in the opposite direction.

Rose took a deep breath and smoothed out her very nice-and very modern-dress and turned to Al. "It was good to see you, Al. Hopefully we can talk more later."

Rose grabbed Scorpius by the arm and they strolled into the ballroom, looking for a table. Al grunted in her direction before turning and heading to a table in the back, Melony following closely behind.

"Is that Draco Malfoy's son with Rose?' Melony asked as they sat down.

"Yeah," said Al angrily.

Melony waited for Al to explain why he was so upset, but he said nothing. He just continued to brood in Rose's direction.

"Is he really that bad?" Melony finally asked.

"No. I mean, he's really annoying and pretentious, but other than that…," Al shrugged.

"So what is all the fuss about?"

"Well, he's not a bad guy, but there is some bad blood between his family and ours. My Uncle Ron especially does not like his family so Rose is pretty much just doing it to get a rise out of her dad."

"Why would she want to make her dad angry?"

Al sighed. "It's a long and complicated story. According to Rose, her dad never respected her because she wasn't placed in Gryffindor."

"She wasn't?"

"No, she got placed in Ravenclaw while the rest of the family went into Gryffindor. I personally don't think it was so much the Ravenclaw thing as the fact that Rose is brilliant. I think it made her dad feel...uneasy. It's one thing to have your wife smarter than you, but to have your daughter smarter than you...well, I don't think my Uncle Ron handled it very well."

Melony looked over at Rose and Scorpius who were sitting toward the middle of the room. Rose was alert and engaged, while Scorpius looked bored and tired.

"So, what happened?" Melony asked as Ginny called upon Neville Longbottom and an anxious looking man stood to deliver a toast.

"They just kept growing further apart. Uncle Ron was always a little distant and defensive when he was around Rose and she more than felt it. Rose and I used to be really good friends and I would always tell her that most of what she was feeling was being made up in her mind, but she never listened. The ironic thing is, Rose and her dad are very similar. They are both so stubborn and hard-headed."

"What made you two stop being friends?"

Al shrugged. "Life. She got really busy after Hogwarts with her Healer studies and I was dealing with all of my family stuff."

Melony nodded. "Well," she said, "it will probably die out, right? I mean at least this happened here instead of tomorrow. Now it can all blow over before the wedding?"

"I hope so…"

Al trailed off as a loud thud interrupted both him and Neville's speech. Al stood up to see what was going on, and when he did he slammed his fist on the table and cursed loudly. Melony leaped out of her chair and craned her neck, trying to see what was causing all the commotion.

It was James. She couldn't tell how he had managed to get into the room, but she was guessing that the loud thud and the teetering girl on each arm had something to do with it. He was speaking with Neville, but Melony couldn't make out what they were saying since they were so far away and Neville's voice was no longer superimposed. Melony watched as they exchanged a few words before James raised his wand to his throat and muttered something.

"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen!" James said, his voice now audible throughout the entire room. "Neville here has told me that it is alright if I take over for him. Big round of applause for Neville everybody!"

Tepid applause followed as Neville looked at Mr. and Mrs. Potter and shrugged nervously before sitting down. Mr. and Mrs. Potter were also looking extremely nervous as they closely watched James guide his two dates-who were looking extremely dazed and confused-to two empty chairs close to the front of the room.

"It is so wonderful that so many people could make it all the way to America to celebrate my dad's birthday," James said turning back toward the crowd. "Of course, there is, perhaps, one other reason why everyone traveled all this way. Now what could that be? Ah, yes, my little brother is getting married!"

James gestured grandly toward Al and Melony who were still standing. Al seared James with a look so strong, Melony could swear she could feel heat coming off of it.

"Albus is marrying a muggle!" James shouted, abruptly cutting off the polite applause directed at Al and Melony. "Can you believe that? A muggle! Just when you think this kid is zigging, he's zagging! First, he runs off to New York, disappearing from everyone, and then, out of nowhere, he shows up with a muggle fiance!"

Al was now practically growling. Melony cautiously grabbed his arm and lowered him into his seat as Mrs. Potter could be heard saying something to James.

"Of course," James said bowing toward his mother and slightly losing his balance. "I digress."

James turned back to the audience and began moving around the tables. "As I was saying, it is great to see so many familiar faces here. Aunt Luna is here all the way from the Arctic, and Teddy made it from India... and looky who we have here, Rose and Scorpius! I am so glad you made it, Rose, how are you this evening?"

"I'm good, James," Melony could distantly hear Rose say as she smiled, beamused, up at James. "How are you?"

"Can't complain," James said, shrugging. "I see you brought your lovely boyfriend to the party." James indicated Scorpius-whose face hadn't changed since arriving-before grabbing Rose by the hand. "But what is this? Could it perhaps be an engagement ring?"

"WHAT?" Ron bellowed from the front of the room as everyone else started mumbling.

Rose smiled wickedly before taking out her own wand and pointing it at her throat. "Well," she said, her voice reverberating off the walls, "I guess the cat's out of the bag."

The room exploded. Ron sent tables flying out of his way as he ran toward Rose, not caring who was sitting at them or who he hit. People were launched backward off their seats as tables crashed into other tables sending drinks and food everywhere. Mr. and Mrs. Potter grabbed James and pulled him aside as Ron, Hermione and Hugo descended on Rose, yelling loudly. Ron was so angry that he was unknowingly flailing his wand around, sending spells and sparks rebounding off the walls. Witches and wizards were screaming and running out the door, or cowering behind tables or launching themselves into the fight. The only people who were still seated where the two girls James had brought in. They were sitting glossy eyed, watching the chaos and smiling stupidly.

Al shot up out of his chair and looked around, trying to decide where to go first when a red beam of light streaked toward him. He whipped his wand out and performed a shield charm so fast Melony barely had time to witness it. Another jet of light headed straight for Melony, and she was barely able to duck under the table before the chair she was sitting in burst into flames.

"Melony!" Al roared over the noise and confusion. "Melony, where are you?"

"Under the table!"

Al ducked his head under the table. "You have to get out of here," he said. "You're not safe."

Melony nodded as Al took her hand and led her toward the door, ducking rogue spells and weaving in and out of upturned tables. As soon as they made it to the hallway, Al stopped short.

"You go home," he said. "I need to stay here and try to help."

"Okay," said Melony shakily, "but be careful, it doesn't look too safe."

"I will," he said, kissing her on the head and running back into the ballroom.

Melony watched as Al dove into the mass of people who were now physically and magically fighting each other before she quietly closed the door and snuck out of the hotel lobby.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6: July, 2014

It took three whole hours of Melony pacing up and down her tiny livingroom before Al texted her, "Everything okay, heading home, see you tomorrow."

Melony had an extremely stressful night of tossing and turning. Not only was she stressed about everything getting done for the wedding, but now she was worried that some huge wizarding fight was going to break out and her family would be caught in the middle of it.

What made matters worse was that Mrs. Potter had insisted on taking over all of the last minute wedding details so Melony had the entire next morning to fret with nothing to distract her. Thankfully, her parents and sister were arriving in the afternoon which gave her something to focus on, but after only spending half-an-hour with them, she was more stressed than ever.

"I hope his family is on board with all of our wedding plans," her mother said for the hundredth time. "I hope they haven't changed _too _much."

"We are still getting married at the church," Melony said, knowing full well what her mom was really after. "But I do have to warn you, his family is a bit...eccentric."

"Eccentric? You mean they're odd."

"Well, sort of. Their customs are just different."

"How different?"

"Don't worry, mom, everything will go as planned."

"I hope so. We have family coming from a long way for this."

"I know, mom."

Melony's mother turned back toward the hotel closet where she continued to hang up her clothes as Melony sunk onto the bed. She glanced over at her dad who was still hidden behind his newspaper. She wasn't worried about him making a fuss-he hardly ever said anything-but he was very observant. It would be harder to convince him that Al's family was simply odd and not...anything else.

"Mel," her sister, Amy, said sitting on the bed next to her, "Everything will be fine. I'll keep an eye on mom."

"Thank you," Melony said, sighing. "It won't be easy, though. I don't think she's going to like Al's family."

"She doesn't like most people," Amy said chuckling. "Al's family must be pretty out there for you to be more worried than usual."

"Yeah, well, they're just...not like us."

"I'll handle it. Anything you need. I feel bad that I haven't been around to help, especially since I'm your maid of honor."

"That's okay, it hasn't been too bad. Al's mom has been handling most of it. Actually, if you could talk to her tonight and find out how everything is going, that would be great."

"You got it."

Melony gave her sister a big hug, then stood a stretched. "I'm going to let you guys rest up before the rehearsal," she said. "I'll be back to pick you up."

"Okay, dear," her mother said, kissing her on the cheek. "Don't be late."

"I won't. Bye, pops,"

Melony's dad grunted from behind his newspaper.

"Bye, Mel," Amy said. "You should get some rest too."

Melony gave a quick nod before hurrying out of the hotel and over to the church to get some last minute prayers in.

Two hours later Melony and her family walked back into the church which was located two blocks from the hotel. The rehearsal wasn't until five thirty, but Melony knew that her mother would hate it if they were not the first ones there, so they ended up waiting for twenty minutes in silence before Al and his family burst in. Within seconds, the church went from seeming massive and empty to small and crowded.

"Hi, honey," Al said, kissing Melony.

"Hi, how is everything?"

Al glanced back at his parents, Lily, James, Fred and Hugo who were pointing at the large pipes lining the walls and discussing loudly how they worked.

"Everything is okay for now," Al said turning back. "Very tense, but okay."

"What happened after I left?"

"Hugo, Fred and I were able to break up most of the fighting with some stunning spells while Aunt Hermione dragged Uncle Ron away. Once he was gone, it was easy to convince Rose and Scorpius to also leave. After that it was mainly damage control."

"Was the room really messed up?"

"Yeah, it was bad. But the good thing about being Potters is that we can pretty much get away with anything. My dad spoke to the owner and smoothed everything over. I think it cost a lot, but at least they aren't angry with us. We spent most of today dealing with the Daily Prophet. Lily was a huge help, but the story is still out."  
"Do you think the press is going to disrupt the wedding?"

"I don't know. It is classified as a muggle event so they might stay away, but it's a pretty big story. Just in case, don't talk to anyone you don't know about the wedding, okay?"

Melony nodded and took a deep, settling breath. She couldn't afford to be worried about a horde of wizards bombarding the wedding with cameras, so she shoved it to the back of her mind. Hopefully, nothing would happen.

"Hey, your family knows that my family doesn't know about you guys, right?"

"Yeah, we discussed it. Are you sure you don't want to tell them?"

Melony nodded. "For right now, yes. My mom wouldn't understand and it would make everything that much more complicated."

"Yeah, well, keeping them in the dark may be harder than you think."

Al looked beyond Melony to her family looking slightly worried which made Melony spin around to see her mother staring down the Potters with a mix of disgust and confusion while her sister and father were closely studying them, as if trying to solve a puzzle.

"I better introduce them before they try to introduce themselves," Melony said.

"Good idea."

Al and Melony headed over to her family. Al shook her father's hand, hugged her sister and politely nodded toward her mother.

"Hello, Mrs. Clark," Al said. "How are you this evening?"

"I'm alright, thank you, Albus. How are you?"

"I'm good, thank you. How was your flight?"

"Fine. Are those your parents?"

"Yes," said Al before turning his head and calling over his shoulder. "Mum!"

"What?" Mrs. Potter called back before seeing that Al was standing with Melony and her family. "Oh! Melony's parents!"

She scurried over to the group with the rest of the Potter's trailing behind her. "Hello, how are you?" she asked as she hugged each one of the stunned Clarks. "It is so great to finally meet you! I am Ginny, and this is Al's father, Harry, and these are our other two children, Lily and James, and Al's cousins, Fred and Hugo."

Mr. Potter shook Melony's father's hand while the rest of the Potters gave slight waves of acknowledgement.

"Good to meet you," Melony's mother said, smoothing out her dress. "How was your flight here?"

"Our flight?" Mrs. Potter asked looking at Al who gave her a wide-eyed look. "Ah, yes, the flight in the big metal bird, yes, we just love flying in those...things."

Melony's mother gave Mrs. Potter a close once over. Even though the Potters were dressed in passable Muggle garb-a feat, Melony was sure, was accomplished by Al-they were looking a bit shabby for being in a church and Melony knew that her mother was not thrilled about it. She could also tell that the Potters were picking up on this since Mrs. Potter was squirming, Lily was shrinking and James was looking angrier and more annoyed than usual.

Melony grabbed Al's hand and squeezed, signaling for him to distract his family.

"Oh, look," he said, "Neville and Luna are here. Mum, dad, why don't we go show them around?"

"Good idea!" said Mrs. Potter brightening. "It was so good to meet you," she said to Melony's parents.

Melony's parents nodded and the Potters took off to great Neville and Luna.

"Look at what they are wearing!" Melony's mother said a little too loudly as the Potters walked away. "They can not possibly think that what they are wearing is appropriate. I hope they will be properly dressed tomorrow. And look at what _those _two are wearing!"

Melony glanced over at Neville and Luna who were receiving a nasty stare from her mother. Neville-who obviously had had no help in getting dressed-was wearing bermuda shorts, stockings, flip-flops, and an "I Heart New York" tee-shirt that was three times too small. Luna was in her usual flower-print dress and red rainboots, her bangles jingling as she waved her arms about.

"I'm sure they will be better tomorrow," Melony said. "I'll talk to Al about it."

"Well, make sure you do, I don't want…"

Thankfully, Melony would not find out what her mother didn't want because right at that moment, the priest walked in with the rest of the wedding party, and they were able to get the rehearsal underway.

The rest of the rehearsal went fairly smoothly. Al's family had minimal roles since they had been added so late, so there wasn't much confusion on their part. The only tricky spot was when several people noticed that Neville was rooting around in the back pews. When asked what he was doing, he popped up and declared that he had lost his wand. Thankfully, he looked so crazy that everyone simply stared at him with confusion and pity.

The rehearsal dinner didn't go off quite as smoothly. After everyone was finally able to make it to the restaurant and get seated, they ran into a little bit of trouble when Al's family tried to order things that were not only not on the menu but items no one had ever heard of. It took an hour and multiple translations before an extremely frustrated waitress left with everyone's order. Most of the confusion was able to be brushed off as a cultural difference (at one point, someone overheard Luna state that she didn't have any sickles on her and Fred and Hugo were able to convince the person that that was what the English called shingles), but Melony could tell that that excuse was wearing thin. Her sister especially kept shooting her questioning looks, which were getting harder and harder to avoid.

So," Amy said, turning to Fred and Hugo after everyone had ordered. "What have you guys been up to for the past couple of days? Have you been able to go around New York much?"

"A little," said Hugo. "We went to Central Park today."

"Pulled a great prank on the Muggles," said Fred.

"The who?"

"Er…," Fred and Hugo said in unison, looking at each other.

"Tourists," Melony jumped in. "That's what they call tourists."

"Really," Amy said to Melony in a tone that conveyed that she did not buy it.

"Yeah," said Fred, "because they're always mugging everything up."

"Anyway," Hugo said quickly, "we convinced some _tourists _that we were there to release a bigfoot into the woods."

"It was great," Fred said. "Got pictures and everything."

"You photoshopped some pictures and showed them to people and they bought it?" Amy asked.

"No, we showed them the big foot and took a video picture of their reactions," Fred said, handing over a phone to Amy.

"Wow," said Amy as she watched a couple of tourists gently poke at what was clearly a very hairy troll. "That's really good. How did you get this guy to look like that?"

"A prankster never reveals his secrets," said Fred proudly as he took the phone back.

"Is that Al's phone?" Melony said before Amy could ask any more questions.

"Yeah, he showed us how to take video pictures on it," Hugo said.

"So much better than regular pictures," Fred piped in.

Before Any could respond to this, one of Al's groomsmen turned to Melony. "What is a Hungarian Horntail?" he asked.

"A what?" Melony said.

"A Hungarian Horntail," the groomsman said. "That lady was discussing it with that gentleman."

Melony, Amy, Fred, and Hugo all looked down the table to where the groomsman was pointing and saw Neville and Luna with their heads bend together in intense conversation.

"Um…," Melony said, at a loss.

"It's a slang term for an Hungarian fellow, mate," Hugo said.

"Yeah, means a big brute of an Hungarian," Fred said.

"Hey!" Hugo shouted down at Neville and Luna. "You two discussing Hungarian Horntails?"

"Yeah," Neville said excitedly. "We were talking about the time Harry took one out."

"Took one out," the groomsman-who happened to be Al's old partner on the force-said. "He killed one?"

"Well, no, didn't kill one...just defeated it," Neville said, stumbling under the glare of the police officer. "Stole its egg."

"He stole an egg from a Hungarian Horntail? Why?"

"For a contest. Hey, Harry!" Neville shouted to the opposite end of the table where Harry was. "Tell us about taking down that Hungarian Horntail our fourth year."

"Let me get this straight," the groomsman said before Harry had a chance to answer, "you stole an egg off of a Hungarian Horntail when you were in the fourth grade for a bet?"

"No, when they say fourth year they mean fourth year of middle school," Melony said. He was fourteen."

"You took on a big Hungarian Horntail as a fourteen year old?"

"Sure did," Harry said a little proudly. "You know about Hungarian Horntails?"

"Yeah, they just told me," the groomsman said pointing to Hugo and Fred who were enjoying themselves immensely.

"Oh," said Harry, taken aback, "well, then, in that case...yeah, this one was huge. A real nasty one."

"That pretty impressive," the groomsman said. "What did you get for it?"

"What do you mean?" asked Harry.

"They said you did it for some type of contest. What was the contest for?"

"Oh, it was just a tournament set up by our school and a couple others. It was supposed to unite us with the other schools."

"Your _school _put you up to it? Wow, things are really different over there."

"Oh, don't worry, they've since gotten rid of it," Harry said.

"Tell him how you did it, Uncle Harry," Hugo said.

Melony shot him an angry look, but Hugo was much too delighted to be affected by it.

"It was pretty simple, actually," Harry said. "I outmaneuvered her with my broomstick."

"Her?" the groomsman asked.

"A broomstick?" someone else piped in.

"Wait, this guy beat someone with a broom for a school contest?" A third person broke in.

"What's a Hungarian Horntail?" one of Melony's bridesmaids asked.

"It's a slang term for a big Hungarian fellow," the groomsman said. "Or, in this case, a big Hungarian lady."

"What?" Harry asked confused as Hugo and Fred doubled up in laughter.

"Oh, look! The food is here!" Melony shouted loudly.

With all of the confusion that followed in straightening out who got what, the Hungarian Horntail discussion was dropped and forgotten. Melony sighed and put her head in her hands. If this was an indication of what tomorrow was going to be like, she didn't know if she could handle it.

"That was close," she heard Al say softly beside her. "Cunfunding is sounding a whole lot better, isn't it?"

"No," Melony said, lifting her head out of her hands and glaring at Fred and Hugo, "but I think we are going to need to find better cover-up men."


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7: July, 2014

Melony awoke early the next morning, but it wasn't early enough to beat Mrs. Potter and Lily into her own kitchen. She could hear them talking and banging pots as soon as she opened her eyes. She laid in bed for a few minutes, listening to the commotion downstairs as a flood of anxiety swept over her. Once she had taken a few deep breaths, she decided to take a long shower before heading downstairs. Partly because she knew it would relax her, but mostly because she didn't particularly want to be there for the arrival of her own mother and sister. She knew that her mother would be put out that the Potters had made it to the apartment before her.

Sure enough, when she made it down to the kitchen an hour later, her mother was sitting at the table watching the chaos caused by Mrs. Potter and Melony's bridesmaids. All of Melony's bridesmaids were standing around and talking loudly with Mrs. Potter while drinking coffee or shoving bacon in their mouths which seemed to never be running out. As soon as Melony entered she was surrounded by squealing, fluttering bridesmaids who started poking, prodding, groping and shoving food into her mouth.

Melony spent the next three hours getting poked and prodded, first by her bridesmaids, then by her hairdresser, and finally by the lady doing her makeup. By the time the group had arrived at the church she was feeling like a rag doll.

Thankfully, they still had two full hours until the ceremony, so everyone settled down to talk and relax once they had made it into the back rooms of the church. After about half an hour of this, Melony decided that she had had enough and sent her bridesmaids out to get some food. Since her mother had left a while ago to lie down and Mrs. Potter had scurried off to check up on all of the last minute details, this only left Lily. Even though she had spent most of the summer with her, Melony still felt a little awkward around Lily, which was why she was more than happy when Lily approached her.

"Melony?"

"Yes?"

"Do you mind?" she asked, pointing to the chair next to Melony.

"No, take a seat."

For a moment the two sat quietly sipping their drinks, Melony her coffee and Lily her tea.

Finally, Lily spoke up.

"So, I don't want to stress you out…"

_Great, _Melony thought, trying to keep a pleasant look on her face, _what now?_

"There's someone coming to the wedding who might say something to my parents who might make a big deal out of it," Lily said quickly. "Or they might not. I just wanted to give you a heads up."

Melony watched Lily stare intensely at her tea, the steam rising and enveloping her face, making her eyes bright.

"What's going on, Lily?" Melony asked softly.

Lily sighed deeply. "It's complicated,"

Melony waited. She had a feeling that Lily didn't alway have the chance to speak on her own terms in her family. The Potters were great, but they could steamroll a conversation. Melony knew that if she waited, Lily would tell her what was going on on her own, and, after what seemed like an agonizingly long, uncomfortable silence, she did.

"I've been seeing this guy for a while, and we've gotten pretty serious, but I haven't told my family yet."

"Why not?"

"I didn't want it to turn into a big deal before I knew what we were. He is sort-of a family friend and I knew that if I told them we were dating it would become...too much."

"I could see that," Melony said sighing, "but I'm sure it would only be bad for a little while. It would have calmed down quickly."

"Well, it wasn't just that," Lily said. "I knew that if we told people it might get to the press. I saw what that did to Al and Amelia and I didn't want to take the chance."

"Why would the press be interested? Just because you are a Potter?"

"Partly, but mostly because his family is very well-known. Actually, the story would probably be even bigger than Al and Amelia's because it would be international," Lily paused and took a sip of her tea before continuing. "I like to be behind the headlines, not in them."

"So why do you think something will happen at the wedding?"

"He's getting pretty antsy. He does a lot of interviews and he says he's tired of saying he's single and people trying to set him up. And now he's coming to the wedding where everyone will be, and...well I just wanted to tell you in case we end up telling my parents and it causes a scene."

"A good scene?"

"Probably. But a spotlight stealing scene."

"It is very sweet of you to be concerned about stealing the spotlight, but trust me when I say I don't care. Nothing about this wedding is the way I planned it, and I'm okay with that."

Lily nodded, looking down at her tea, her eyebrows furrowed.

"Lily," Melony said placing her hand on Lily's, "you should tell them. "You should be able to enjoy this wedding with your boyfriend and without the fear of your secret being revealed."

"Thanks," Lily said, looking slightly relieved and a little more confident. "I'll do it...I think. I think we're strong enough to handle it by now."

"And if you're not, then it's not meant to be. Look at me and Al. I could have bailed on him a hundred different times these past couple of months, but I didn't because I love him. I love him so much I can't imagine being without him, no matter how much crazy stress he brings into my life."

Lily smiled. "I'm glad," she said. "I've always wanted a sister."

Melony squeezed her hand before letting go and grabbing hold of her coffee with both hands. The warm cup soothed her and she closed her eyes relinquishing in the silence for a full minute before her brain caught up and she realized she had not asked the most important question of all.

"By the way," she said. "Who is this guy you're dating?"

"He's great," Lily said, her eyes brightening. "He's a professional quidditch player. A seeker. But he's not super cocky like most quidditch players. he's really sweet and low-key."

"He sounds perfect for you."

"He is," she said, blushing slightly.

"And you said he's a family friend?"

"Sort-of. His dad and my mum know each other fairly well from the quidditch circuit, and he had a thing back in the day for my Aunt Hermione. They've all kept in touch over the years and I had met Krasimir a couple of times growing up but it wasn't until I did a piece on him last summer that we really started talking."

"Is that his name? Krasimir?"

"Yes. Krasimir Krum."

"Krum?" Melony said thinking hard and fast. "As in Viktor Krum!"

"That's his dad," Lily said, slightly shrinking from Melony's raised, excited voice.

"You're dating Viktor Krum's son," Melony said sitting back in her chair and trying to seem casual. "Wow, small world."

Lily sighed deeply and also sat back. "Yeah, that tends to happen in our world."

Just then, Melony's bridesmaids burst in, carrying boxes of food and talking loudly. Lily stood up and rushed over to help them set it up only to be immediately replaced by Amy.

"How are you holding up, sis?" Amy asked plopping down.

"Pretty good," Melony said. "Did you talk to Al's mom?"

"Yep. We went over the whole day. She was pretty vague on some of the details though. there were some things she was describing which seemed pretty much impossible, but when I asked her about it, she just waved me off and assured me that she had it under control."

Amy shot Melony a sideways glance which Melony pretended not to see by taking a sip of her coffee.

"I'm sure she does," Melony said.

Amy continued to stare at Melony which Melony ignored by becoming overly interested in the food that was being laid out.

"Melony."

"Yes?" Melony said, finally turning to her sister.

"Is there something you want to tell me? About Al's family?"

"Like what?"

"Oh, I don't know," Amy said. "Perhaps the reason why they are so odd, or why they don't know about things that are common, everyday occurrences, or the fact that they have a whole vocabulary of nonsense words, or that they tend to accomplish things that seem impossible, or, better yet, why they have the exact same names as certain beloved literary characters."

Melony took a moment to look deeply into her sister's eyes.

"Nope," she said.

"Okay," her sister said, "but when you _are _ready just let me know and I will pretend to be shocked."

Melony smiled, chuckling slightly. "Thanks, Amy," she said softly.

"Of course," Amy said kindly. "After all you only get one day, right?"

"Right."

Amy stood and stretched before turning back toward Melony. "By the way," she said casually, "there are a whole bunch of people standing outside with cameras shouting things that seem to make no sense. You might want to ask one of Al's completely normal-blooded relatives to go talk to them before guests start showing up and asking questions."


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8: July, 2014

Melony decided to send Lily out to deal with the press. She didn't know how she was going to get rid of them, but she trusted that she would come up with something. By the time she returned, the bridesmaids had all changed into their dresses and were helping Melony into hers. Lily ran off to change and returned while Teddy and the regular photographer were taking pictures of the bridal party and Melony was able to pull Lily off to the side.

"How'd it go?" Melony asked.

"Alright," Lily said. "We sent Fred out to 'tip them off' that the real guests would be arriving at a different entrance on the side. He and Hugo are now outside guiding some of the more well-known wizard guests to that entrance."

Melony nodded taking a deep breath, "As long as they don't come in that should be fine."

"I don't think they will."

"Melony!" Mrs. Potter shouted from across the room. "They want a couple pictures of you with your mum!"

Melony spent the next half an hour taking pictures and by the time they were done, it was time to get started. The wedding party headed out and lined up. Melony tried to sneak a peak, tip toeing to peer over the heads in front of her. She couldn't see much, but she could tell that there wasn't any type of commotion, and that's all she cared about for now.

She could also tell that the church was packed. She caught sight of a few wizards on Al's side who were wearing robes, but they were so packed in they didn't stand out. The rest of Al's guests were wearing a variation of the same outfit spanning the last sixty decades: the men had on a jacket, button-up shirt and slacks while all the women were wearing floor length dresses. Al and his family had sent a sample picture with each of their invitations and it worked beautifully. Most of it was outdated, but at least it was appropriate.

Melony closed her eyes and sighed. Everything was going to be okay.

When she opened her eyes again the doors to the church had been closed, waiting for her big reveal. Her father was grabbing her arm and hooking it into the crook of his arm. Melony smiled up at him as he looked stoically on. She knew that he was avoiding her gaze on purpose, and it meant more to her than if he were looking down at her.

The wedding march started, the doors opened, and Melony gasped. She had been so concerned with looking at the guests and making sure that everything was calm that she hadn't noticed the flowers. There were so many flowers Melony couldn't even see Al at the altar. It looked as if all the flowers had been moved into the church, which led Melony to believe that there were no flowers at the reception. Anxiety began to sweep over her. What were they using at the reception? Were they planning to magically transfer all of the flowers after the ceremony? There wouldn't be enough time or people to set it up! What were they thinking? How could Amy let this happen…

But that is when her thoughts drifted away because at that precise moment she was finally able to see Al, who was watching her approach, his eyes shining with love and excitement. At that precise moment, everything melted away. It didn't matter that the press were right outside, or that the reception hall was bare; all that mattered was this, right here, right now, and Al.

Melony subconsciously started picking up her pace. She was already half-way down the aisle, but it felt like a million miles to go. She wanted to sprint up to Al, but she resisted the urge and succumbed to her father's steadying arm which was keeping them on rhythm.

Melony felt so happy and giddy and light. Everything had worked out, and she was about to get married. She couldn't believe that she was actually here.

Just as this thought settled in her mind, making her feel warm all over, a loud THUD! came from directly behind her followed by tiny little clicks.

"Ger off er meh!" a booming voice echoed throughout the church.

Melony saw Al's horrified face before spinning around and seeing an extremely large man with a huge, bushy, scraggly gray beard and wild, gray hair trying to push his way past hundreds of photographers who had flooded in around him.

The clicking from the cameras was almost deafening. Melony stood shell-shocked not knowing what to do as Mr. Potter marched right past her followed closely by Al and James.

"Don' 'orry 'arry," the large man said. "I go' 'em."

He started shoving and tossing photographers toward the door, but for every one that he managed to throw out, ten more managed to squeeze in past him. They started filing into the church filling in wherever they could fit all the while snapping away.

"I'm 'orry 'arry," said the large man while holding back three photographers at once. "I jus go' the invite today. Had ter fight my way out 'er the forest, but I had ter be 'ere."

"It's okay, Hagrid, thanks for coming," Mr. Potter said before moving past him and assessing the situation. He turned to his son and shook his head. "There are too many."

Al nodded sharply and then spun around and walked briskly back up the aisle toward Melony who was still standing frozen, attached to her father's strong arm.

"What are we going to do?" she breathed as soon as Al reached them.

"Plan B," Al said looking from Melony to her father who nodded knowingly.

"What's plan B?" Melony asked.

"Grab your mother and your sister and go to the sacristy. I'll meet you there."

Melony nodded, not wanting to take up any more time. The photographers were already inching closer, becoming bolder the longer they stood there. Al grabbed her hand, squeezed, and then lifted his fingers to his mouth and gave a loud, piercing whistle. As soon as he had done this, dozens of witches and wizards came streaming out of the pews where they were standing and started shouting and moving around, blocking the photographers. Melony watched this phenomenon wide-eyed as her dad pulled her away toward the front pew where her mother was standing looking both compleatly angry and annoyed all at the same time. He grabbed her without saying a word and guided both of the clueless women toward the little room off to the right of the altar that served as the sacristy. Mrs. Potter, Lily, Amy, and the priest were already standing inside, calmly discussing the order of events.

"What is going on?" Melony's mother demanded as soon as her father had let her go and closed the door, barricading it with his solid frame.

"I am so very sorry," Mrs. Potter said. "You see, Mr. Potter is a bit of a celebrity back in England, big time politician and all that, and it seems the press have caught wind of the wedding."

A rhythmic knock could barely be heard over the commotion coming from outside. Melony's father opened the door slightly and James slid into the room.

"Blimey it's bad out there," he said, brushing himself off. "Folks are doing a real nice job keeping them distracted though. Still, I managed to get a couple nice shots in myself."

James winked at Melony's father who stared down at him in stoic contempt. Luckily for James, Al and Mr. Potter slid into the room and distracted Mr. Clark's gaze long enough for him to slither away.

"So what are we going to do?" Melony's mother asked.

Al looked apologetically at Melony. "We thought we could do the ceremony in here," he said.

Melony looked around and noticed for the first time that the little room they were in had also been decorated. Vases of flowers lined the floor, making a makeshift aisle which led to a small wooden archway lined with ivy and tiny white flowers.

"You did say you wanted a small wedding," said Al, attempting a smile.

Melony grinned. "It's perfect," she said, grabbing his hand. "Let's get married."

Everyone took their places and began again. Melony was able to walk down a much shorter aisle, her father was still able to give her away, and they were able to get through the entire ceremony without any interruption. Whatever the crowds were doing outside was working. At first it was really loud and there were even a couple of loud bangs, but after only about twenty minutes there was no more noise coming from behind the door.

Once the ceremony was done, the Potters and the Clarks peered around the door to the sacristy to see a completely empty church that was in shambles. They started walking around to assess the damage, but quickly realized that the flowers had been the only casualties. Petals and stems lay everywhere, smeared against the walls, smashed into the floor, and strewn all over the pews. Melony sighed and began helping pick up what she could, resigning to the fact that there would be no decorations at her reception.

Melony helped clean until Mrs. Weasley and Rose arrived to help Mrs. Potter and Lily while Melony and Al went to take pictures with their wedding party whom they had called earlier telling them to meet in Central Park.

After two hours of wedded bliss spent cleaning and taking photos, the exhausted couple was finally climbing into Al's cop car and heading to their reception.

"Al," Melony said after they had driven a few blocks and her mind had finally calmed enough to think about the events of the day, "you didn't plan that did you? Inviting the press so we could have a small ceremony."

"No, but it worked out, didn't it?" he said kissing her wedding ring.

"Yes, but you could have given me a heads up."

"I didn't want to overwhelm you."

"What are we going to do about the reception?"

"I called in a favor," Al said. "My old precinct is already over there cordoning off the hotel."

Melony looked out the window, thinking. "Was that Hagrid at the wedding?" she finally asked.

"Yes," Al said, a slight smile playing on his lips.

"I thought he wasn't coming."

"My parents sent an owl anyway on the off chance that it would find him. I guess it did. I can't believe he came all this way. No one has seen him for years."

"Well, I guess it was sweet of him, even if he did ruin the wedding. Are we going to have a place for him at the reception?"

"I'm sure my mom will figure it out."

Melony nodded, not really trusting Mrs. Potter at the moment.

The police car was able to make it to the hotel where the reception was being held rather quickly. Melony could see hundreds of photographers crowding the entrance before she ducked down while Al put his cap on. The photographers were so distracted by the arrival of the guests that they didn't even look twice at the seemingly ordinary cop car Al drove right past them and around to the back of the hotel.

Once she and Al were inside, Melony started heading toward the back door where their entrance would take place, but Al pulled her toward another entrance.

"What are you doing?"

"I think you deserve the first peak," he said.

He and Melony snuck around to the front entrance and slid inside.

"Al, this is sweet, but really, it's okay that there isn't...," Melony began to say before her jaw dropped.

They were standing in the middle of a forest. Life-sized trees were placed sporadically around the room creating a canopy of leaves overhead where hundreds of live butterflies were fluttering, making the orbs of light hanging from the branches dance. Rustic wooden tables topped with a single lantern containing floating fireflies were placed around the room and the ground shimmered as if it were covered in wet leaves.

"This is my parents' wedding gift to us," Al said softly. "Do you like it?"

All Melony managed to do was nod, tears welling up in her eyes. "Al," she said, "I have to get out of here before I ruin my makeup."

Al chuckled and embraced her, kissing her on the forehead. The two of them stood looking at the room, Melony vowing to never distrust Mrs. Potter again.

The next hour was a whirlwind of pictures, announcements, entrances, and then, finally, food. Melony was starving, but she knew that she had to go around with Al to their guests and explain what had happened at the church. A few of Melony's stauncher relatives were upset they had missed the actual ceremony, but other than that everyone was extremely understanding.

Melony and Al had decided to split up the tables into wizarding and non-wizarding guests, so after they had spent forty-five minutes going around to all of the non-wizarding tables with their regular photographer, they then went back through to all of the wizarding tables with Teddy. Melony thanked each one for helping distract the photographers in the church and they all had the same response: we would do anything for the Potters. Hagrid almost broke down in tears he was so upset, but after many reassurances from Al and Melony, he gave them both a bone-crushing hug that told them he was fine.

It was actually pretty exciting meeting some of the more renowned witches and wizards. Melony even met a Dr. Vincent who claimed to be the bases of a superhero, Dr. Strange, but the most exciting table was the D.A. table where Alicia Spinnet, Dean Thomas, Katie Bell, Lee Jordan, Seamus Finnigan, and Hannah Abbott were all seated. Al spent a few minutes going around, introducing Melony to each one, who in turn gave her a little blurb about what they were up to now that Melony knew she would never remember.

The last person they spoke to was Al's grandfather who was there alone since Al's grandmother had been too sick to make it. Melony had met Al's grandpa Weasley once before and found the stooped, balding man charming. He had become extremely eccentric in his old age and would spend hours chatting Melony's ear off about the contraptions he has made, or the muggle artifacts he has collected. Thankfully tonight he was interrupted by Mrs. Potter who came over to lead her father over to their table, claiming that he needed to meet someone. Melony and Al watched as she helped him over to the family's table where Lily was standing with a serious-looking young man with dark, thick eyebrows shaking hands with Mr. Potter.

"Oh, good, Krasimir made it," Al said. "He's the son Viktor Krum. Great guy."

"Really? Well, you should remember that for later," Melony said, steering him toward their own sweetheart table.

"Why?"

"No reason," Melony said looking back at Lily who was now laying her head on Krasimir's shoulder and smiling.

When she and Al finally made it to their table, Melony was so exhausted she practically fell into her chair. She and Al only had a few minutes before the first dance and were about to dive into their cold plate of chicken when there was a loud BANG and out of nowhere an older, stately man in long, elegant flowing robes appeared right in front of them.

Melony dropped her fork in surprise as Al began to rise out of his chair cautiously. Some of the guests had looked around at the loud noise, but most were still chatting away, oblivious to the intruder.

Melony opened her mouth to speak but was interrupted by two more loud bangs bringing in two more men. Now, about half the room was on it's feet trying to figure out what all the commotion was.

The first man scanned the room with his icy eyes and landed on the table where Ron and Hermione were seated. Ron was already standing with his fists clenched, breathing hard. The two men took a moment to stare each other down, hatred pouring out of them.

"Al," Melony said, taking advantage of the headed silence, "what is going on?"

"I don't know," he said, "but it can't be good, because that is Draco Malfoy."


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9: July, 2014

Draco Malfoy strode over to where the Weasleys were sitting and gave Ron and Hermione a long, thorough once-over. Both Ron and Hermione squirmed ever so slightly apparently a little self-conscious in their muggle garb.

"Weasley...Granger," Malfoy said in his sneeringly slow tone.

"Malfoy," Ron growled.

"Have you heard the good news?"

"Yes. We were...informed. Two days ago."

"Two days? Well, I myself heard of it just this morning when I got back to my house and saw it first as a headline in the daily prophet and then in a lovely owl sent to me by my son and your daughter."

Draco started scanning the crowd, searching for the pair.

"So you felt the need to come all the way out here?" Hermione asked.

"Of course. I must speak to my son right away in order to clear this mess up."

"Who are you calling a mess?" Ron asked loudly.

"I wasn't calling anyone a mess, Weasley, but if I had to say…"

"That is enough!" Mr Potter interjected as Ron made a move toward his coat pocket. "Malfoy, can't we discuss this later? There are muggles around."

"Ah, yes," Malfoy said looking around him and spotting Melony and Al. "I heard about your little...celebration. Your boy is marrying a muggle, is he? You must be so _proud_."

Melony rose out of her chair, guided by annoyance and anger. How dare this man come to her wedding and disrupt it over a silly family feud. She was about to say something when Mr. Potter beat her to it.

"Malfoy, you need to leave now."

"What seems to be the problem?" one of Al's cop buddies asked breaking out of the crowd that had formed to watch the fight.

Following the cop were two more officers who were dressed in uniform. Malfoy looked over the three cops who had interjected themselves into the feud and raised his eyebrows amused.

"How cute," he said before turning back to Mr. Potter. "Don't worry, I do not plan on staying here any longer than necessary. Once I find my son, we will be out of your hair for good."

"Good riddance!"

"What are you saying Weasley? Are you trying to imply that Scorpius is to blame for all of this? Because I can assure you that it was your daughter who tricked him with her newfangled muggle ways."

"Scorpius is lucky that a girl like Rose would even look at him! She took pity on your son for coming from such a low-life family!"

One of the men who had arrived with Malfoy moved toward Ron, but Malfoy stopped him.

"As always, Weasley, you are delusional. It would be amusing if it weren't so pathetic."

Melony scanned the room, looking for Rose and Scorpius and spotted Rose frantically running through the crowds, her red hair bouncing and flying around her. She burst through the crowd just as her father had opened his mouth to retort to Malfoy's comment.

"What is going on?" she demanded.

Draco stared at Rose with extreme disgust. "Pathetic," he said. "What Scorpius sees in you, I will never understand."

"That's it!" Ron shouted, moving toward Malfoy who watched his outburst calmly.

"Dad, stop!" Rose said, grabbing her father's arm.

"Malfoy," Mr. Potter said, "I am only telling you this one more time, leave."

"Or what? Unlike the rest of the world, Potter, I don't bow down to your every whim."

"Scorpius and I are grownups," Rose said. "We can do what we please, and you two will just have to deal with it!"

"Little girl, you do not know your place," Malfoy snarled.

"Look, Malfoy, I am not happy about this either but if Scorpius and Rose want to get married we can't do anything about it," Ron said in a surprising moment of calm clarity. "I for one am not going to tell my daughter what to do. She is smart enough to make this decision."

Rose let go of her father's arm and looked up at him in surprise. "Really?" she asked.

Ron took a deep breath and looked down at his daughter. "Of, course," he said. "I love you."

"That's all well and good, Weasley," Malfoy spat, "but I am still taking my son out of this muggle cesspool."

"Mr, Malfoy," Melony said coming out from behind her and Al's table and heading toward the group, "why don't we all-"

"Get back girl!" one of Malfoy's men interrupted her, whipping out his wand and sending a spell at Melony which hit her squarely in the chest.

Melony stumbled backward into the table, clutching her chest and sputtering. Pain vibrated through her lungs and into her throat, making it impossible to breath. Al leaped over the table and sent a spell at her attacker which he rebounded with a shield charm.

"I am so, so sorry, Melony, are you alright?" asked Rose who had hurried over, Lily and Mrs. Potter right behind her.

"What did he hit her with?" Lily asked.

"I think it was a burning charm," Mrs. Potter replied.

"Melony, you need to close your eyes and concentrate on breathing," Rose said.

Melony nodded, but it was the last thing she wanted to do. What she wanted to do was tell the ladies to stand back so she could see what Al was up to, but she couldn't breath, much less talk.

No sooner had she thought this then a rogue spell came soaring at the group, hitting a champagne glass and sending glass flying. This caused the three women to dodge just enough for Melony to see Al taking on both of Malfoy's men while Mr. Potter and Hermione tried to separate Malfoy and Ron who were magically and physically fighting. Behind all of this, the cops who had tried to intervene earlier were holding back the crowds, half of which were trying to burst through to join the fight while the other half watched dumbfounded and confused.

Melony closed her eyes, concentrating, and heaved herself upright. After what felt like a thousand years, she was able to catch her breath and gulped in mouthfuls of air.

"She's breathing," Rose said beside her.

"I'll stay here, you two go help," Lily said to her cousin and mother who took off to replace Mr. Potter and Hermione who then moved over to help Al.

By this point, spells were flying everywhere, shattering lanterns, upturning tables and soaring into the canopy overhead, leaving gaping holes. One of the spells hit one of the trees and set it ablaze making the guests scream and scatter. Some of the more well-meaning wizard guests started trying to put out the fire with champagne, making it worse, while others had given up the pretense altogether and were spraying it down with their own wands. In the midst of all this, Melony could see Fred and Hugo running around to the different Muggle guests, calmly pointing out spells while oohing and awing.

Al left the fight up to Mr. Potter and Hermione and ran over to Melony. He started fussing over her and saying over and over how sorry he was and asking her if she was okay. Melony gingerly pushed herself away from the table, her chest searing, and grabbed onto Al's arm.

"Finish this," she said hoarsely.

Al nodded, spun and signaled the three officers who were keeping the crowds back. The two officers in uniform knelt and shot tasers at Malfoy's two men who fell spasming to the floor, while the other officer tackled Malfoy, and then Ron taking them down to the floor and handcuffing them. Al stepped over the two men now laying on the floor and and walked over to Ron and Malfoy who were still arguing despite the fact that they were now sitting on the floor handcuffed. Al spoke to the officers briefly who nodded before picking up the two men, one in each hand, and heading out of the room.

"Rose!" he shouted over his shoulder toward his cousin. "You come too."

Rose hurried after the three men and the door clicked behind them leaving a still silence which was broken by Fred and Hugo who started clapping as they nonchalantly walked toward Melony, smiling as if this were one big lark.

"What do you want us to do?" Fred asked Melony out of the side of his mouth.

"Should we confund them?" Hugo asked. "They're looking pretty suspicious."

"No," Melony said. "Play it off as our entertainment. Tell them Al and I love Harry Potter so much we hired some actors to put on a skit."

"I don't know," Hugo said. "It's a really big stretch."

"I know," Melony said, "but I think we should try."

The boys nodded and turned to the crowd who were murmuring to themselves.

"Wasn't that entertaining?" Fred said loudly to Hugo.

"Yes! I think we should all give it up for the New York City Theater Club! What a performance!"

Fred and Hugo clapped loudly and were joined enthusiastically by the witches and wizards in the crowd and timidly by the muggles.

"And, we have one more final trick, don't we Hugo?" Fred said. "The final two performers have decided to exit by floating out the door!"

The two men on the floor began to rise and floated in the air at eye-level. Melony could see Fred and Hugo holding their wands at their sides guiding them. As the men floated toward the double doors that Lily opened and then closed behind them, Fred and Hugo dropped their wands and a loud thud could be heard right outside the door.

The witches and wizards exploded in applause as the muggles clapped, looking perplexed, but nodding their heads impressed.

"Well," Hugo said as soon as the clapping died out, "I think it's time for cake."

He and Fred looked at Melony who nodded.

"Splendid!" Fred said. "If everyone could-"

A huge crash interrupted Fred. He, Hugo and Melony turned slowly to see an extremely large beast with random tufts of hair come lumbering out onto the stage located directly behind Melony. It was so tall it began running into the stage lights, sending them cascading down, bouncing off its head and crashing onto the floor. The monster looked up in stupid curiosity to see what was hitting it and looked directly into one of the lights, blinding itself. It roared in anger and began stopping its huge feet, causing the ground to shake.

Melony looked over at Fred and Hugo who were watching the whole thing in guilty horror.

"What did you do?" Melony asked in such a deadly voice it made the two men wince.

"Do you think they'll buy that it's Sasquatch?" Fred asked, trying to lighten the mood, but still looking sick.

The beast jumped down off of the stage and started blindly fumbling around, crashing into tables and stomping on chairs, sending splintered wood and glass everywhere. People started screaming and running from the room. A few were sending spells at the monster which were ricocheting off the tough hide and streaming over people's heads. Hermione and Mr. Potter were shouting at the witches and wizards who were sending spells, telling them to stop and sending them outside. People were trampling over each other as they all simultaneously tried to get out of the door. A few muggles were staying behind, standing on chairs or tables with their phones out, recording the whole thing.

Melony sighed and turned back to Fred and Hugo. "Okay," she said, "gather up some extra confunders. You're going to have to catch all the muggles before they leave the hotel."

Fred and Hugo nodded solemnly and headed off.

"Make sure to get everyone's phone!" Melony yelled after them.

She wasn't sure if they had heard her, but she couldn't worry about it. What mattered right now was getting everyone out of this room and into the lobby. Hugo was already going around to the muggles who were taking video and cunfunding them. Once the spell hit, he handed them off to a nearby wizard who gently led them out of the room. Melony helped heard out the rest of the stragglers and then proceeded to go around the room locking doors.

By this time the troll had regained its sight and was looking around the room stupidly. Mr. Potter and Hermione were the only ones left in the room. They were standing a few feet from the troll, whispering to each other calmly. Melony sneaked around the troll to the stage and clicked the lock to the last door that was hidden behind the curtain. All she had to do now was make it over to the double doors leading into the lobby. She started tiptoeing across the stage and was almost to the far edge when she stepped on a piece of broken glass and slipped, losing her balance, letting out an involuntary shout as she crashed to the floor. The troll turned slowly and fixed its beady gaze on Melony who froze. It started lumbering over to her letting out a roar and lifting its huge fist. Melony rolled out of the way just as the troll's fist went through the floorboards where Melony had just been laying. The troll started thrashing wildly, trying to pull his still clenched fist out of the floor where it was now stuck.

"Melony, run!" Mr. Potter shouted at her.

Melony tried to get up, but kept slipping on the broken glass, cutting up her arms and legs, ripping her dress and splattering it with blood. She was finally able to find her footing and leap off the stage just as the troll pulled itself free, sending ply boards raining down on her head. She ducked and covered, bracing for impact...

But it never came.

Melony looked up and saw a heavy piece of plywood floating over her head, held in place by Hermione. Melony dodged out of the way and Hermione let go of the board which came crashing down.

Without another word Melony took off, leaping over upturned chairs and weaving in and out of upside down tables until she finally made it to the double doors. Before going through, she turned to look at the room one last time.

What was once her beautiful reception room was now a shambled mess. There were no more butterflies, no more dancing fireflies, and only small patches of the canopy were left. The last image she had as she closed the doors behind her was of Hermione and Mr. Potter squaring off to fight the beast together.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10: July, 2014

Melony turned away from the double doors leading into her reception room to see a lobby full of glossy-eyed muggles who were either wandering around dazed or standing and staring unseeing at the walls. Several witches and wizards were scurrying about performing cunfunding spells or guiding dazed muggles up to their rooms or to safe places where they could sit and recuperate.

Melony looked down to her left and saw the two men who had come with Malfoy sitting propped against the wall. They were awake but stunned and looked extremely beaten up. Melony guessed that some kind soul had moved them out of the way, but only after a few dozen people had trampled over them.

Melony started feeling dizzy and weak and grabbed onto the door for support. She started realizing that she hadn't really eaten all day and knew that she needed to sit down soon. Just as she realized this, Ron, Rose, and Al ran up frantically.

"Melony, what is going on?" Al asked.

"Where's Draco?" Melony asked weakly.

"Gone," Rose said. "Scorpius wasn't even here. He went home this morning."

"Why?"

Rose shrugged. "When he heard how furious his father was he got worried that he would be cut off and...chickened out."

Melony looked over at Ron who was beaming. "My girl knows how to stick to her guns," he said proudly. "Wouldn't see her backing out."

"I am so sorry, Melony," Rose continued, looking around the room. "I didn't mean for all of this to happen."

"Actually, all of this," Melony said, waving her hand around the room, "is your brother's doing."

"Hugo?"

Melony nodded.

"I'll be right back," Rose said in a sinister voice, and took off into the crowd.

A couple loud bangs and a huge crash could be heard coming from the other side of the double doors as soon as Rose left. Ron and Al moved to go inside, but Melony stopped them.

"No, don't," she said. "I think Mr. Potter and Hermione should do this on their own."

"They're in there fighting?" Ron asked.

Melony nodded and was trying to get the strength up to explain but she was interrupted by her mother who came flying out of the bathroom down the hall. In all of her life, Melony had never see her mother with a hair out of place, but at the moment she looked wild. Her hair was frizzed and falling out of her tight bun, and her meticulously pressed outfit was torn and ruffled. She was soon followed by Amy who looked frazzled, trying to get her mother back into the bathroom.

"I will not calm down, everything is a disaster!" Melony could hear her mother shout.

Amy said something quietly which Melony couldn't hear.

"I don't care!" Melony's mother said. "Where is your sister and her good-for-nothing-"

Melony's mother spun and spotted Melony who was still leaning against the door for support.

"There you are!" she said, marching over. "What a disaster! Everyone will be talking about this back home."

She made it to the little group, her face red. She was so angry she didn't even see Al until she was right in front of him

"How dare you!" she said to him. "How dare you bring your bizarre family drama into _our _wedding and ruin it! It's bad enough that you're-"

"Mom, please, not right now."

"Who _was _that man?"

"What?" Melony asked. It was getting really hard to concentrate.

"That tall pale man in the strange long robes who waltzed in here out of nowhere and-"

"You care more about that than the troll?"

"Troll?" Ron, and Al asked together.

"Are Harry and Hermione really in there fighting a troll?" Ron asked, looking longingly at the door.

"If you are referring to the man who hit you, than yes, I do care about that troll of a man." Melony's mother said. "Who hits a woman like that? Especially a bride on her wedding day!"

Melony looked at her sister confused.

"I was able to get mom out of there during the chaos that followed you getting hit," Amy explained.

"So she didn't see anything after that?"

"No, we've been in the bathroom the whole time," Amy said before leaning in to whisper, "was there really a troll?"

Melony nodded as another loud crash came from the room behind her. "Mr. Potter and Hermione are in there fighting it right now."

"Wow," Amy said looking at the closed door, her eyes bright.

"I demand to know how you are going to make up for all of this," Melony's mother said, pointing a stern finger at Al.

"Mother," Melony said, "can you help me find a chair? I am feeling very weak."

"Amy, get your sister a chair."

"I can't mom."

"Why not?"

"There aren't any chairs I can carry. You're going to have to help me lead her to one."

"Oh, very well!" her mother said exasperated. "But I _will _be back and we _will _discuss this," she said to Al.

Melony took hold of her mother and her sister. "Thanks," she whispered behind her mother's back to Amy.

"Of course," she whispered back.

"Where are we going?" Melony's mother demanded miffed, realizing that Melony was leading her toward the front of the lobby.

"Don't worry, mom. Soon everything will be better." Melony replied

Melony, her mother, and sister reached Fred just as he was finishing a cunfunding spell on a very irate aunt who was insisting she be let out of the building. As soon as her face went blank, Fred handed her off to a wizard waiting nearby who led her toward the elevators. Fred turned to face Melony and looked from her to her mother to her sister and then back to Melony raising his eyebrows.

"She's next," Melony said, gently guiding her mother closer to Fred.

Fred nodded solemnly, raised his wand to her mother's forehead and mumbled something under his breath. Immediately, her mother's shocked face went blank. She turned toward Melony and took in her ragged appearance.

"Melony, dear, you look horrible."

Melony sighed and took hold of her mother's arm. "Come on, mom. I'll take you upstairs."

"It's okay, Mel, I'll take her." Amy said.

Fred turned to look at Amy, and began to raise his wand.

"You better not be raising that thing to use on me," Amy said eyeing the wand in Fred's hand.

Fred hesitated and looked at Melony for confirmation.

"She's fine," Melony said.

Fred bowed toward Amy in apology. "Tell, me," he said after straightening up, "would you have believed that that was a sasquatch in there?"

"Didn't believe it last night at dinner and don't beleive it now," Amy said. "Once I put mom down I'll come back to help you," she continued, turning to Melony.

"Thanks," Melony said, relaxing slightly.

Amy gave Fred one last warning look before turning and leading her mother over to the elevators.

"So," Melony said turning back to Fred, "are you going to tell me how a troll got into my reception?"

Fred sighed. "You have no idea how bad we feel, Melony. We did not mean for this to happen at all. We didn't have time to take it back to the mountains where we got it and we couldn't leave it in Central Park so we decided that the best place to keep it was the ballroom."

"Why?"

"We figured that if someone came across it, they would assume it was a costume or prop. We sedated it with a heavy sleeping spell and put a lot of costumes and props around it. It was also pretty dark back behind the stage. I swear, we were planning on taking him back as soon as the party wound down, but the spell must have worn off and we got distracted with Malfoy showing up."

Melony looked around the room and took a deep breath. Fred winced, bracing himself, but Melony simply nodded.

"Okay," she said.

"That's it?" Fred asked after a long pause. "You're just...okay?"

"Yeah," said Melony tiredly. "It is what it is, can't do anything about it now. It's not like you guys did it on purpose."

"We didn't, Melony, I swear."

"Just make sure everyone gets home. Send the wizard guests out the back, away from the press, but only a few at a time. I don't expect the story to not get out, but maybe we can hold it off until tomorrow."

"Don't worry, we will take care of everything."

Melony nodded. "Okay, then I'm going to go sit down."

"Hey, Melony," Fred said as soon as Melony had turned to leave.

"Yeah?" Melony asked distracted.

"Is your sister as cool as you are?"

Melony spun to see Fred looking off to where Amy had disappeared.

"Don't you dare," Melony said, sticking her finger in Fred's face.

"Hey. I was just asking," Fred said smirking.

Melony gave Fred a knowing look, but decided she was too exhausted to do anything else about it. She needed to find somewhere to sit. Not only was she tired but by now the shock had worn off and she could feel all of the cuts and bruises she had sustained throughout the night. She plunged into the crowd, looking for a place to rest. She quickly found and unoccupied couch and sunk into the cushions, kicking her heels off her throbbing feet.

For the next forty-five minutes, Melony watched as the lobby slowly dwindled until the only people left were the Potters, the Weasleys, and her sister who had come down fifteen minutes earlier to sit with her. Melony's father had snuck upstairs unnoticed and uncunfunded, but Melony didn't care. It allowed Amy to come down and be with her. The noises from the ballroom had long since stopped and Mr. Potter and Hermione had emerged looking haggard but triumphant. They were now in the bar with the rest of the family who were reminiscing and laughing loudly. They had all at one point or another invited Melony to join them, but each time she had politely declined. She was enjoying sitting with her own sister, reminiscing. They had a lot to catch up on.

One by one the family started to leave. Teddy was first. He gave Melony a big hug, promised to send her pictures soon and thanked her for the most exciting wedding ever.

"Always happy to oblige," Melony said chuckling.

"I can't wait to see how the pictures turn out. I think they will be very...fun."

"For our eyes only, right?"

"Well, your eyes and maybe a close friend's eyes," Teddy said, a twinkle in his eye.

Melony laughed and gave him another hug, making him promise to come out and visit soon.

After Teddy was Rose. She gave Melony a long, affectionate hug before looking over her wedding dress with concern.

"Oh, Melony, I can fix that for you if you'd like."

Melony looked over her tattered, blood-stained dress and smiled. "No, it's okay," she said. "I kind of like it. Makes it unique."

"Well, that's certainly true," Rose said laughing. "I'm really glad Al found you, Melony. He needed you."

Melony looked deeply at Rose. "You know, Rose," she said, "New York is a great place to start over. It worked for Al."

Rose nodded, looking around. "Yeah," she said slowly. "I'll have to think about that. Tell Al I'll be out to visit soon."

"He's not in there with you guys?"

"No, I think he was driving people home."

Melony nodded and gave Rose one last hug before she turned and disappeared.

After Rose had vanished, Fred and Hugo came strolling out of the bar toward Melony. They each gave Melony a hug and Hugo shook Amy's hand, but Fred gave her a hug too, winking at Melony behind Amy's back. They moved off into the ballroom to retrieve their troll and never came back out.

Lily, Hermione, Ron, Mrs. Potter, and Mr. Potter mosied in a few minutes later, also heading for the ballroom. Melony offered to join them because she knew that they were going to go in and clean up, but they refused her help. She didn't press the issue because she knew that they would be using magic anyway which meant she wouldn't be much help.

Melony and Amy were now the only ones left in the quiet lobby. Melony sighed deeply and leaned back into the couch, closing her eyes. She was on the verge of drifting off when a soft kiss on her forehead roused her. She opened her eyes to see Al smiling down at her.

"Hello, Mrs. Potter."

"Hello, Mr. Potter."

Amy stood and stretched. "Al, you take my place," she said. "I'm going to go upstairs and see how mom is doing."

"Thanks, Amy," Al said, hugging her. "For everything."

"Of course. You will take care of her."

"Always."

Amy smiled and patted him on the back before heading to the elevators and disappearing upstairs.

Al sighed heavily as he slumped into the seat next to Melony. It occurred to Melony that Al had not had a chance to sit all day.

"Rose told me you were taking people home," Melony said, resting her head on his shoulder. "Everyone get home okay?"

"Yeah, it was just my cop buddies. I'm sorry we had to end up cunfunding everyone. I really hated doing that to them. The drive was...weird. I think you are corrupting me against magic."

"Only certain kinds," Melony said, chuckling.

The two sat in silence, staring at the wall and absorbing the quiet calm that can only come after a storm. Melony sat and thought about everything that had happened the past couple of months. Her world had drastically changed since then. She tried to remember what her life had been like before the Potters had shot through her fireplace and into her life, but she couldn't. She couldn't even imagine not knowing.

And now she was married. Married to this family; married to Al.

Melony's smile grew wider, and she began chuckling. Soon, she was doubled up in laughter, tears welling up in her eyes.

Al leaned back in shock, looking at her. "What's wrong?" he asked concerned. "Why are you laughing?"

Melony shook her head, unable to speak. Al remained silent, waiting for her to catch her breath. Melony closed her eyes, took a deep breath and leaned back shaking her head.

"It's over," she said. "It's all over."

Al looked down at her for a long time before he too, started to smile as his whole body relaxed. "You're right," he said. "It's over."

He grabbed her hand, pulling her up.

"Let's go home."

The End


End file.
